Last year, the research and development (R&D) investment by major domestic corporations exceeded 83 trillion won, marking a record high. However, the concentration on major corporations persisted, with Samsung Electronics accounting for over 36% of the total corporate investment.
According to the '2024 Corporations R&D Scoreboard' released by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology on the 12th, last year's R&D investment by the top 1,000 corporations in the country amounted to 83.6 trillion won, an increase of 15.3% from the previous year. This is the highest growth rate in the past decade.
The proportion of R&D investment in sales also rose from 4.4% in 2023 to 4.8% last year. The total sales of the top 1,000 corporations last year amounted to 1,730 trillion won, an increase of 5.3% from the previous year.
Although R&D investment is showing a steady increase in terms of total volume, the concentration on major corporations remains evident.
The largest R&D investment last year was by Samsung Electronics, with a total R&D investment of 30.2 trillion won, up 6.3 trillion won from the previous year (23.9 trillion won). The 6.3 trillion won increase accounts for more than half of the total investment increase (11.1 trillion won) of the top 1,000 corporations.
Corporations with R&D investments exceeding 1 trillion won included Samsung Electronics, SK hynix (4.5 trillion won), Hyundai Motor (4.3 trillion won), LG Electronics (3.4 trillion won), Kia (3.3 trillion won), Samsung Display (3.1 trillion won), LG Display (2 trillion won), Hyundai Mobis (1.8 trillion won), and Samsung SDI (1.3 trillion won), totaling nine companies, the same as the previous year.
The R&D investment of the top 10 corporations amounted to 54.7 trillion won, accounting for 65.5% of the total investment by the top 1,000 corporations. This marks a 2.8 percentage point increase from the previous year (62.7%). While the top 300 corporations accounted for 92.4% of R&D investment, the bottom 300 corporations accounted for only 2.2%.
Compared to major countries worldwide, Korea's R&D investment is at an insufficient level. According to data published by the European Union (EU) Commission, as of 2023, only 40 Korean corporations were among the top 2,000 global R&D investors. This number is significantly lower than the United States (681), China (524), Japan (185), Germany (106), and also less than Taiwan (55).
Jae Kyung-hee, the Director of Industrial Technology Convergence Policy, noted, "Despite challenging conditions such as intensified industrial technology competition, corporations are actively expanding their R&D investments, and now is a critical time to maintain this trend in response to competing nations." The government plans to share the investment risks with corporations and promote regulatory innovation, demonstration infrastructure, and financial support to realize investment results in the market."