Artificial intelligence (AI) is a new technology with enormous long-term investment potential. But don’t assume that all AI stocks are speculative or high-growth businesses. There are also plenty of opportunities for dividend investors to add AI exposure to their portfolios.

Some companies best positioned to lead the AI ​​sector are paying dividends. Their core businesses are enhanced by AI or even present growth opportunities. No, these aren’t the high-yielding stocks that income-oriented investors would prefer, but their dividend growth potential makes them wealth compound stocks to buy and hold for the long term – including these three stocks. AI.

Semiconductor giant Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO) specializes in chips for connectivity applications, such as networking, server storage and broadband. And it has acquired companies to integrate enterprise infrastructure software into about 40% of its business.

This created a diversified technology company that generated $51.5 billion in revenue in its 2024 fiscal year, including $19.4 billion (37%) in 2024. free cash flow.

The company has paid and increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years, with an average increase of 14.7% over the past five years. The current payout ratio represents only 48% of FY2024 earnings, so investors should feel good about the safety and growth potential of the dividend. Analysts estimate that Broadcom will grow earnings by nearly 22% annually on average over the long term, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Its promising growth prospects are mainly due to its AI-related opportunities. The company has agreements in place to develop AI chips for some notable customers, which management has not yet officially named.

This year, Broadcom’s AI-related revenues totaled $12.2 billion, and management thinks it will grow as these chip deals take off, making the long-term dividend potential exorbitant.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is on a 22-year dividend growth streak. The company has become a multi-layered AI company, integrating the technology into all of its software products to improve user experience.

And it owns Azure, the world’s second-largest cloud computing platform, whose growth is fueled by the AI ​​applications it deploys.

Microsoft continues to grow despite its staggering size, reaching a market capitalization of $3.2 trillion and annual revenue of $254 billion. Analysts estimate that the company will grow earnings by an average of 13% per year over the long term. This should translate into dividend increases outpacing inflation.

The dividend is also as safe as possible. The payout ratio represents just 26% of 2024 earnings estimates, and Microsoft is one of two public companies with an AAA credit rating, higher than that of the U.S. government.