The following list sorts companies with the highest expenditures for research and development (R&D) for different years, mostly taken from the magazine Strategy+Business.

2020 top 10

The 10 companies with the highest research and development expenses in 2020.[1]

Rank Company Country Sector Expenditures on R&D
(billions of US$)
1 Amazon  United States Software and Internet 42.74
2 Alphabet Inc.  United States Software and Internet 27.57
3 Huawei  China Computing and Electronics 22.04
4 Microsoft  United States Software and Internet 19.27
5 Apple  United States Computing and Electronics 18.75
5 Samsung Electronics  South Korea Computing and Electronics 18.75
6 Facebook  United States Software and Internet 18.45
7 Volkswagen Group  Germany Automotive
8 Intel  United States Computing and Electronics
9 Roche Holding  Switzerland Health Care
10 Johnson & Johnson  United States Health Care

2018 top 50

The 50 companies with the highest research and development expenses in 2018.[2]

Rank Company Country Sector Expenditures on R&D
(billions of US$)
1 Amazon  United States Software and Internet 22.62
2 Alphabet Inc.  United States Software and Internet 16.23
3 Volkswagen Group  Germany Automotive 15.77
4 Samsung Electronics  South Korea Computing and Electronics 15.31
5 Microsoft  United States Software and Internet 14.74
6 Huawei  China Computing and Electronics 13.60
7 Intel  United States Computing and Electronics 13.10
8 Apple Inc.  United States Computing and Electronics 11.58
9 Roche Holding  Switzerland Health Care 10.80
10 Johnson & Johnson  United States Health Care 10.55
11 Daimler AG  Germany Automotive 10.40
12 Merck & Co.  United States Health Care 10.21
13 Toyota  Japan Automotive 10.02
14 Novartis  Switzerland Health Care 8.51
15 Ford Motor Company  United States Automotive 8.00
16 Facebook, Inc.  United States Software and Internet 7.75
17 Pfizer  United States Health Care 7.66
18 BMW  Germany Automotive 7.33
19 General Motors  United States Automotive 7.30
20 Robert Bosch GmbH  Germany Industrials 7.12
21 Honda  Japan Automotive 7.08
22 Sanofi  France Health Care 6.57
23 Bayer  Germany Health Care 6.19
24 Siemens  Germany Industrials 6.10
25 Oracle Corporation  United States Software and Internet 6.09
26 Cisco Systems  United States Computing and Electronics 6.06
27 GlaxoSmithKline  United Kingdom Health Care 6.05
28 Bristol-Myers Squibb  United States Health Care 5.96
29 Celgene  United States Health Care 5.92
30 Nokia  Finland Computing and Electronics 5.90
31 IBM  United States Computing and Electronics 5.79
32 Qualcomm  United States Computing and Electronics 5.47
33 AstraZeneca  United Kingdom/ Sweden Health Care 5.41
34 Eli Lilly and Company  United States Health Care 5.28
35 Fiat Chrysler Automobiles  Italy/ United States Automotive 5.14
36 AbbVie Inc.  United States Health Care 4.98
37 General Electric  United States Industrials 4.80
38 Dell  United States Computing and Electronics 4.76
39 Ericsson  Sweden Computing and Electronics 4.63
40 Nissan  Japan Automotive 4.62
41 Sony  Japan Computing and Electronics 4.32
42 Panasonic  Japan Computing and Electronics 4.23
43 Denso  Japan Automotive 4.21
44 SAP SE  Germany Software and Internet 4.03
45 Gilead Sciences  United States Health Care 3.73
46 Continental AG  Germany Automotive 3.73
47 Boehringer Ingelheim  Germany Health Care 3.69
48 Alibaba Group  China Software and Internet 3.63
49 Amgen  United States Health Care 3.56
50 Renault  France Automotive 3.55

2017 top 20

The 20 companies with the highest research and development expenses in 2017 according to the Global Innovation 1000.[3]

Rank Company Country Sector Expenditures on R&D
(billions of US$)
1 Amazon  United States Software and Internet 16.1
2 Alphabet Inc.  United States Software and Internet 13.9
3 Intel  United States Computing and Electronics 12.7
4 Samsung  South Korea Computing and Electronics 12.7
5 Volkswagen Group  Germany Automotive 12.1
6 Microsoft  United States Software and Internet 12.0
7 Roche Holding  Switzerland Health Care 11.4
8 Merck & Co.  United States Health Care 10.1
9 Apple Inc.  United States Computing and Electronics 10.0
10 Novartis  Switzerland Health Care 9.6
11 Toyota  Japan Automotive 9.3
12 Johnson & Johnson  United States Health Care 9.1
13 General Motors  United States Automotive 8.1
14 Pfizer  United States Health Care 7.9
15 Ford Motor Company  United States Automotive 7.3
16 Daimler AG  Germany Automotive 6.9
17 Oracle Corporation  United States Software and Internet 6.8
18 Cisco Systems  United States Computing and Electronics 6.3
19 Honda  Japan Automotive 6.2
20 Facebook, Inc.  United States Software and Internet 5.9

2014 top 20

The 20 companies with the highest research and development expenses in 2014 according to the Global Innovation 1000.[4]

Rank Company Country Sector Expenditures on R&D
(billions of US$)
1 Volkswagen Group  Germany Automotive 13.5
2 Samsung  South Korea Computing and Electronics 13.4
3 Intel  United States Computing and Electronics 10.6
4 Microsoft  United States Software and Internet 10.4
5 Roche Holding  Switzerland Health Care 10.0
6 Novartis  Switzerland Health Care 9.9
7 Toyota  Japan Automotive 9.1
8 Johnson & Johnson  United States Health Care 8.2
9 Google  United States Software and Internet 8.0
10 Merck & Co.  United States Health Care 7.5
11 General Motors  United States Automotive 7.2
12 Daimler AG  Germany Automotive 7.0
13 Pfizer  United States Health Care 6.7
14 Amazon  United States Software and Internet 6.4
15 Ford Motor Company  United States Automotive 6.4
16 Sanofi Aventis  France Health Care 6.3
17 Honda  Japan Automotive 6.3
18 IBM  United States Computing and Electronics 6.2
19 GlaxoSmithKline  United Kingdom Health Care 6.1
20 Cisco Systems  United States Computing and Electronics 5.9

2011 top 20

The 20 companies with the highest research and development expenses in 2011 according to the Global Innovation 1000.[5]

Rank Company Country Sector Expenditures on R&D
(millions of US$)
1 Roche Holding  Switzerland Health Care 9,646
2 Pfizer  United States Health Care 9,413
3 Novartis  Switzerland Health Care 9,070
4 Microsoft  United States Software and Internet 8,714
5 Merck & Co.  United States Health Care 8,591
6 Toyota  Japan Automotive 8,546
7 Samsung  South Korea Computing and Electronics 7,873
8 Nokia  Finland Computing and Electronics 7,778
9 General Motors  United States Automotive 6,962
10 Johnson & Johnson  United States Health Care 6,844
11 Intel  United States Computing and Electronics 6,576
12 Panasonic  Japan Computing and Electronics 6,176
13 GlaxoSmithKline  United Kingdom Health Care 6,127
14 Volkswagen Group  Germany Automotive 6,086
15 IBM  United States Computing and Electronics 6,026
16 Sanofi Aventis  France Health Care 5,836
17 Honda  Japan Automotive 5,704
18 AstraZeneca  United Kingdom Health Care 5,318
19 Cisco Systems  United States Computing and Electronics 5,273
20 Siemens  Germany Industrials 5,217

2008 top 20

The 20 companies with the highest research and development expenses in 2008 according to the Global Innovation 1000.[6]

Rank Company Country Sector Expenditures on R&D
(millions of US$)
1 Toyota  Japan Automotive 8,386
2 General Motors  United States Automotive 8,100
3 Pfizer  United States Health Care 8,089
4 Nokia  Finland Computing and Electronics 7,727
5 Johnson & Johnson  United States Health Care 7,680
6 Ford Motor Company  United States Automotive 7,500
7 Microsoft  United States Software and Internet 7,121
8 Roche Holding  Switzerland Health Care 6,985
9 Samsung  South Korea Computing and Electronics 6,536
10 GlaxoSmithKline  United Kingdom Health Care 6,476
11 Novartis  Switzerland Health Care 6,430
12 Sanofi Aventis  France Health Care 6,208
13 IBM  United States Computing and Electronics 6,153
14 Intel  United States Computing and Electronics 5,755
15 AstraZeneca  United Kingdom Health Care 5,162
16 Honda  Japan Automotive 5,142
17 Merck & Co.  United States Health Care 4,883
18 Panasonic  Japan Computing and Electronics 4,850
19 Volkswagen Group  Germany Automotive 4,757
20 Sony  Japan Computing and Electronics 4,553

References

  1. ^ Bajpai, Prableen. "Which Companies Spend the Most in Research and Development (R&D)?".
  2. ^ Skillicorn, Nick (2019-08-28). "Top 1000 companies that spend the most on Research & Development (charts and analysis)". Idea to Value. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  3. ^ Chwalik, Barry Jaruzelski, Volker Staack, and Robert. "Will Stronger Borders Weaken Innovation?". strategy+business. Retrieved 2020-02-07.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ Goehle, Barry Jaruzelski, Volker Staack, and Brad. "The Global Innovation 1000: Proven Paths to Innovation Success". strategy+business. Retrieved 2020-02-07.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Holman, Barry Jaruzelski, John Loehr, and Richard. "The Global Innovation 1000: Why Culture Is Key". strategy+business. Retrieved 2020-02-07.((cite web)): CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ Dehoff, Barry Jaruzelski and Kevin. "Beyond Borders: The Global Innovation 1000". strategy+business. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
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