Micron declares quarterly dividend of 10 cents

NEW YORK: Micron Technology on Monday declared a quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share.

The initial quarterly dividend will be payable in cash on Oct 18 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on Oct 1, Micron said.

Micron makes DRAM and NAND memory chips, which are necessary commodities for nearly all computing systems and whose price can fluctuate widely based on global supply and demand. Since taking over the company in 2017, Chief Executive Sanjay Mehrotra has sought to develop more profitable products that are less prone to price swings.

Micron's largest two competitors for memory chips - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and SK Hynix - both pay dividends to shareholders. Micron also said on Monday it has bought back about US$4 billion of shares since starting a repurchase program in 2018.

Micron's changes to its capital return program come as the company is preparing to ramp up spending for a new generation of chips.

Micron in June said its capital expenditures for fiscal 2021 would rise above US$9.5 billion, partly driven by pre-payments as it starts to acquire extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines from Dutch maker ASML Holding NV. The machines are necessary for making the most cutting-edge chips but can cost more than US$100 million each.