Although neither Nvidia (NVDA 1.00%) nor Apple (AAPL 0.20%) is renowned chiefly for its dividend payouts, the two have been remunerating shareholders for years. Not only that, but more than a few times each has hiked these payouts.

This month, both companies declared dividend raises. Let's pick these apart and see if they support the buy case for the two very high-profile tech stocks.

Image source: Getty Images.

1. Nvidia

Now this is a dividend raise. A typical distribution increase is relatively modest, even incremental, with the improvement measured in single-digit percentages. That sure isn't the case with Nvidia, which increased its quarterly dividend 25-fold, from $0.01 per share to $0.25.

The company also bolstered its existing share repurchase program by $80 billion, without an expiration date. This adds to the remaining $38.5 billion under authorization in the initiative.

Nvidia, the king of artificial intelligence (AI) chips, is doing gangbusters in this age of AI. Its recent financials demonstrate its front-and-center position: First-quarter fiscal 2027 revenue rocketed 85% higher year over year to $81.6 billion, while headline net income more than tripled to $58.3 billion. The latter, meanwhile, makes for a tremendous net margin of 71%.

Despite those major leaps in the financials, both items only beat, instead of obliterating, analyst estimates. This, combined with a notable run-up in the share price before the results were published, disappointed the market. Uncharacteristically, Nvidia's stock pulled back and hasn't recovered much yet.

I don't think it'll stay down for long. Yes, Nvidia is expensive based on where its stock was even just a few short months ago, and some of its valuations are reaching vertigo-inducing levels (like price-to-sales, which is nearly 21). Outside of that, other chipmakers are striving to chip away at some share from the industry leader and might also succeed in niches Nvidia isn't currently addressing.

That said, Nvidia is still by far the biggest game in town when it comes to AI processors, and without such hardware, we can say goodbye to ChatGPT, Gemini, and all those other models we've come to know and depend on. Given that, I think Nvidia is undoubtedly a buy, even at these not-quite-peak levels. It's a very safe bet on the vast and bright future promised by AI, in my view, to the point where it's a no-brainer.

Nvidia's recent dividend raise will significantly boost the stock's yield, although that's not saying much. At the most recent closing share price, this would be less than 0.5%. Nevertheless, I don't think this is a factor in how investors view Nvidia, as what they're purchasing with the stock is strong, sustained fundamental growth potential.

2. Apple

One of those fellow AI chip developers is also one of the longer-standing names in the tech hardware world, Apple. The giant of Cupertino is similarly doing the dividend-raise dance, announcing in its fiscal second-quarter earnings release a 4% increase in the quarterly payout to $0.27 per share.

Apple isn't Nvidia, despite its push into AI processors. Management has stated that it's developing such products purely for its own use. This, of course, will aid in the performance of the devices around which the company still revolves after all these years (the foundational iPhone will celebrate its 20th anniversary next year).

It's surely encouraged by the somewhat surprising recent jump in sales of these goods. Apple separates its revenue streams into products and services; the company's take from the former increased at double-digit percentage rates in both reported quarters of this fiscal year, in both instances slightly topping services' growth. Prior to that, it was a notable laggard compared to the other category.

But this might be a short-term growth spurt. A major factor in the sales jump was future-proofing, as the company's AI platform, Apple Intelligence, requires devices equipped to handle its capabilities. This excludes all models including and dating back from the Pro and Pro Max versions of the iPhone 15. So that upgrade cycle has been quite a boon for Apple since the iPhone 17 hit the market last September.

I think this inspiring growth in products will cool before long. Happily, Apple has done well pushing the services end of the revenue equation, thanks in no small part to an ecosystem that can include every conceivable type of app and a great many device functions. Many of us perform an increasing number of tasks on our phones, and that trend should only grow.

Like Nvidia, Apple is a behemoth, with its $4.5 trillion market capitalization and $416 billion in annual sales. I don't think it has the growth potential of the pioneering Nvidia; still, it's sure to keep its top and bottom lines generally on the rise. Of the two stocks, I'd be more excited to own Nvidia; however, Apple should do well for investors, too.

Apple's new payout -- first dispensed on May 14 -- yields an Nvidia-like 0.3%. And similar to the chipmaker, it's a safe bet that few pile into this stock for the dividend. That said, Apple has consistently declared dividend raises every year since reinstating its payout in 2012 after a 17-year hiatus.