April 24, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics invested the most money in research and development among local companies last year, while internet portal Naver was No. 1 in investment in proportion to sales, corporate analysis showed on April 18.

CEO Score compared 211 firms who rank within the top 500 companies in terms of sales and made public their R&D spending. The total investment totaled 45.28 trillion won (US$42.33 billion), an amount equal to 2.78 percent of their sales last year.

R&D spending rose 13.1 percent, while sales gained 0.14 percent from the year before.

In absolute sums, Samsung topped the list with investments totaling 16.83 trillion won, the only company to exceed the 10 trillion won mark. The company’s rival LG Electronics followed with 4.33 trillion won.

Hyundai Motor spent 2.49 trillion won on R&D, while SK hynix poured in 2.48 trillion won. LG Display invested 1.91 trillion won, Kia Motors 1.64 trillion won and Naver 1.13 trillion won.

Naver, the largest internet portal in the country, topped the list for investment amount in comparison to company sales. It used 24.6 percent of its sales on R&D, becoming the only firm to exceed 20 percent.

Hanmi Pharmaceutical invested 18.61 percent of sales, NC Soft 16.18 percent, Daewoong Pharmaceutical 13.18 percent and NHN Entertainment 12.87 percent.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)