I'm not a technology guru, but as a longtime investor, I understand business models fairly well. That is why I am so confident that Texas Instruments (NASDAQ: TXN) is well positioned for the future, despite some near-term headwinds. Indeed, the company is more of a widget maker than many of its highly specialized peers. Here's what that means and why that makes the historically high 2.9% dividend yield so attractive.

Although this is a simplification, there are just a couple of different types of microchips. Really specialized chips that function as the "brains" of a computer are the type that most people think about. Companies like  make those. Then there are chips that have really simple functions, like recognizing a button push. Basically, these chips allow humans to interact with their devices. This is the type of chip that Texas Instruments specializes in. 

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Source Fool.com