Mr. Fox noted various research on R&D spending indicates such spending has a pronounced effect on a country’s economic growth — a topic of immense interest in light of President Donald Trump’s recent decision to implement tariffs on various goods in a move some analysts theorize may lead to a trade war between the U.S. and several of its trading partners.
To examine R&D spending in the U.S., Mr. Fox compiled a list of 25 companies and analyzed their expenditure using data from each of the companies’ 2017 financial documents. He noted Amazon, which topped the list, does not report R&D spending on its earning statements. Instead, the statements list “technology and content” spending, which he — along with Amazon’s investors — accept as a proxy for R&D, with slight differences, according to the report.
Here are the world’s leading companies in terms of R&D expenditure for 2017, according to Mr. Fox.
- Amazon — $22.6 billion
- Alphabet — $16.6 billion
- Samsung Electronics — $14.9 billion
- Volkswagen — $14.8 billion
- Microsoft — $13.9 billion
- Huawei — $13.3 billion
- Intel — $13.1 billion
- Apple — $12.1 billion
- Roche — $11.5 billion
- Johnson & Johnson — $10.6 billion
- Merck — $10.2 billion
- Daimler — $9.8 billion
- Novartis — $9.0 billion
- Toyota — $9.0 billion
- Robert Bosch — $8.5 billion
- Ford — $8.0 billion
- Facebook — $7.8 billion
- Pfizer — $7.7 billion
- General Motors — $7.3 billion
- BMW — $6.9 billion
- Honda — $6.5 billion
- Sanofi — $6.2 billion
- Oracle — $6.2 billion
- Cisco Systems — $6.1 billion
- Celgene — $5.9 billion
To access Mr. Fox’s analysis, click here.
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