April 19, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor Group and LG Group affiliates nabbed the top five spots of companies with highest increase in research and development expenditure, industry data showed on Dec. 8.

According to industry tracker CEO Score, a combined R&D spending of 155 affiliates under the 30 largest conglomerates came to 27.78 trillion won (US$23.99 billion) from January to September this year, up 1.9 percent from a year earlier.

Breaking down, LG Electronics’ R&D spending increased by the highest 314 billion won from 2.70 trillion won to 3.20 trillion won in the cited period.

Kia Motors, Hyundai Motor Group’s smaller automaker, ranked second with 234.1 billion won hike from 959.13 billion won to 1.19 trillion won.

The nation’s largest automaker Hyundai Motor ranked the third, with an increase of 149.6 billion won, followed by the group’s auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis with 57.4 billion won gain.

LG Chem, the chemical and battery arm of LG Group, ranked fifth with 49.5 billion won increase.

Both LG Electronics and LG Chem are boosting their investment in future car technologies, which include autonomous cars and electric cars, among others.

LG Electronics has identified its vehicle component unit as the company’s future growth engine, investing heavily in research and personnel in the VC division since its inception in 2013. The tech giant is also teaming up with Intel to develop 5G telecommunications technology for internet-connected cars.

LG Chem, the nation’s largest EV battery maker, is pouring more investments to foster its battery business to attract more EV manufacturers. Besides batteries, it is also eyeing bio and pharmaceutical market, as the merger deal with LG Group’s pharma arm LG Life Science is imminent. LG Chem said it will invest 100 billion won in LG Life Science every year for the next five years to expand the bio business.

Hyundai Motor Group last year pledged it will invest about 81 trillion won by 2018 to improve facilities, expand production lines and develop core technologies for smart and eco-friendly cars.

The auto giant has been speeding up to develop technologies for internet-connected cars recently, ramping up its efforts to lead the future car technology.

It is forming an alliance with American tech giant Cisco Systems for developing in-vehicle network solutions, a key technology in connected cars that allows high-speed transfer of large amounts of data.

Hyundai Motor Group is also building its own operating system to be deployed in its connected cars for both Hyundai and Kia.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)