Intel Corp, the world's biggest make of computer chips, on Thursday said it plans to buy back another $25 billion in stock, adding to some $15 billion it has repurchased since the beginning of last year.

The company also said its board has increased its quarterly dividend by 25 percent to 10 cents a share, starting in the first quarter of next year.

Intel shares rose in early trading, gaining 36 cents, or 1.5 percent, to $25.16.

Over the past few years, Intel has boosted the pace of a share buyback program on which it has spent about $49 billion since 1990.

In the first three quarters of this year, Intel repurchased over 300 million shares at a cost of approximately $7.5 billion. That was equal to last year's total of $7.5 billion, which had been a record for a full year.

Altogether it has spent about $49 billion on buybacks since 1990.

Copyright Reuters, 2005