Intel Corporation (INTC)—the world’s largest maker of semiconductors—finally rejoined the ranks of dividend raisers after a longhiatus. Starting in the first quarter of 2015, INTC will pay a $0.24 quarterly dividend, up from the $0.225 dividend it has paid since August of 2012. This represents a 7% bump.  That’s not too shabby, but as a long-time holder of Intel stock, I’m expecting to see more in the quarters ahead.

Nine consecutive quarters without a dividend hike was a long stretch for investors in Intel stock. To find a longer streak, you’d have to go back to the late 1990s and early 2000s, when Intel stock was still a sexy growth story and the darling of both Wall Street and Silicon Valley.  Today, we see a very different Intel: more mature, more shareholder friendly, and—most importantly—far more reasonably priced.

Let’s dig deeper. For most of the past two years, no one wanted to own Intel stock. It was yesterday’s news, a stodgy, old technology company that had missed the mobile revolution and hitched its wagon to a crippled horse: The Microsoft (MSFT)-dominated PC market.

To be fair, some of this criticism was warranted.  Intel didn’t jump into the mobile market nearly fast enough, and it lost serious market share to Arm Holdings (ARMH), Qualcomm (QCOM) and others. INTC then had to play an aggressive game of catchup—which meant a surge of new investment and capital spending. This crimped profits and made a lot less cash available for dividends.

But then, a funny thing happened. All of that investment started to pay off, and INTC has started growing again. After three years of slugging revenue growth, INTC expects to see revenue growth in the mid-single digits next year. It helps that global PC sales stopped declining, of course. But Intel is also expected to sell about 40 million tablet chips this year.

Intel’s estimates might prove to be too conservative. Both consumers and corporate buyers have put off upgrades for years, preferring to cut costs and spend technology dollars on tablets and smartphones. But old computers eventually have to be replaced, and Barron’s reports that there are 600 million PCs currently in use that are four years old or older. And Intel’s server business is stronger than ever.  Intel expects revenue growth from its server group of about 15% per year through 2018.