Does AMD pay dividends? How the chipmaker spends its money

Advanced Micro Devices’ stock has risen more than 100-fold in the decade through 2026, benefiting from demand for its processors — central processing units (CPUs) and graphics processing units (GPUs) — and the associated software used in artificial intelligence programs and applications.

Revenue and profit surged toward record levels in 2025, and the company is flush with cash.

Still, the company doesn’t expect to pay dividends anytime soon, and investors hoping for dividend income from AMD are likely to wait for a long time. 

Here’s a closer look at AMD’s take on dividends.

Why doesn’t AMD pay dividends?

AMD is focused on investing money back into its businesses to fuel additional growth, and the company views its stock repurchase program as the way to return value to shareholders.

“AMD does not currently pay a cash dividend at this time,” the company said in its Frequently Asked Questions section on its website. “As a growth-oriented company, we are investing in returning capital to shareholders through our share repurchase program. There are no plans at this time to offer a dividend.” 

Related: AMD’s stock split history (& prospects) explained

How does AMD spend its money?

AMD has been in business for more than half a century, but it only embarked on a stock repurchase program in 2021, when it was flush with cash. Since then, the company has spent billions of dollars buying back stock in the open market and will continue to do so.

Still, with the stock price at record highs as of June 2026, it’s better off holding back on buying stock at a premium and deploying its cash elsewhere.

At the same time, one area of AMD’s focus has been research and development, where it has produced the next generation of processors and associated software. As AMD’s revenue and profit increased over the years, so has its spending on research and development. 

More on dividends:

• Apple's dividend explained: Yield, history & more
• Amazon's dividends & stock splits: What you need to know
• How much does Home Depot pay in dividends? 

AMD said in its 2025 annual report that its increase in R&D spending “was primarily due to higher employee-related costs from an increase in headcount in support of our continued focus on our AI strategy.”

Spending on R&D more than quadrupled to $8.09 billion in 2025 from $1.983 in 2020, while its free cash flow rose by almost sevenfold.