Korea‘s top 1,000 companies’ R&D investments up 8.7% in 2023

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon]

South Korean companies’ research and development (R&D) investments soared by 8.7 percent in 2023 from a year ago, data showed Sunday.

According to a report by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology on Sunday, Korea’s top 1,000 corporations invested a record 72.5 trillion won ($51.7 billion) in R&D last year, up 8.7 percent from the previous year.

Despite a 2.8 percent on year decline in sales for the companies, their average ratio of R&D spending to sales increased to 4.4 percent from 3.9 percent in 2022.

In 2023, Samsung Electronics Co. was the largest R&D investor, with an investment of 23.9 trillion won, up 14.4 percent from the previous year. The tech firm’s investment accounted for 32.9 percent of the entire R&D spending by the top 1,000 companies.

Hyundai Motor Co. came next with 3.7 trillion won, followed by chip giant SK hynix Inc. at 3.6 trillion won.

Other big firms, including LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Display Co., and Kia Corp., also made the list of the top ten R&D investors.

Among the top 1,000 companies were 171 large companies, 491 midsize companies, and 338 small and medium-sized enterprises.