R&D Investment-to-sales Ratio Goes up to 3.76%
The Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology announced on Oct. 28 that the top 1,000 South Korean companies in terms of R&D investment made a total R&D investment of 49.7 trillion won last year, up 7.9 percent from a year ago.
Their R&D investment-to-sales ratio increased from 2.66 percent to 3.76 percent in 2018. By company size, the R&D investment of those with 1,000 or more employees added up to 42.8 trillion won, 86.3 percent of the total.
By industry, the R&D investment of manufacturers accounted for 90.2 percent of the total. Each of Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, LG Electronics, Hyundai Motor, Samsung Display, Kia Motors, LG Display and LG Chem made an R&D investment of at least one trillion won last year.
The combined operating profit of the 1,000 companies was 117 trillion won that year with a year-on-year increase of 113 billion won.