Major South Korean firms' spending on research and development (R&D) expanded more than 8 percent in 2021 though their sales weakened amid the coronavirus pandemic, a market tracker said Wednesday.
Combined R&D expenditures by 224 out of the country's top 500 companies by sales stood at 60.4 trillion won (US$48.1 billion) last year, up 8.2 percent from a year earlier, according to CEO Score.
It represents the first time that major domestic firms' R&D spending has surpassed the 60 trillion-won mark.
Last year's increase was seen as part of their efforts to secure future growth engines despite slackening sales in the wake of the prolonged COVID-19 outbreak.
Their total R&D spending accounted for 3.2 percent of sales in 2021, compared with 3.5 percent from a year earlier.
Samsung Electronics Co., the world's largest smartphone and memory chipmaker, was the top R&D spender with 22.6 trillion won last year, which was up from 21.2 trillion won a year earlier.
Samsung was followed by chip behemoth SK hynix Inc. with 4.04 trillion won and home appliances giant LG Electronics Inc. with 3.6 trillion won.
Samsung and nine other firms spent more than 1 trillion won last year, and 13 corporations posted R&D-to-sales ratios of 10 percent or more.
Naver Corp., the country's largest internet portal operator, ranked at the top among the businesses in terms of the R&D-to-sales ratio with 24.3 percent, trailed by major pharmaceutical firm Celltrion Inc. with 22.5 percent and mobile game developer Netmarble Corp. with 22.4 percent.
