Samsung Electronics is one of the biggest R&D spenders in the world, and last year, the company managed to outdo itself by spending no less than 20.1 trillion won ($16.5 billion) in researching and developing new or improved products.
The company's R&D spendings by the end of 2019 were up by 8.3% compared to 2018. That's quite impressive given that Samsung did spend money on R&D in 2018 as well, and was South Korea's biggest spender in this area throughout that year. In 2019, however, Samsung managed to increase its R&D to sales by 1.1% compared to a year prior. This effectively means that Samsung's R&D expenses have taken shape in real products, more so last year than they did in 2018, and part of this effort and research is now being felt by customers in one form/product or another.
According to Yonhap News citing industry sources, the bulk of Samsung's R&D expenses in 2019 has covered the development of system chips and next-gen displays. Near the beginning of 2019, Samsung confirmed its plans to invest $115 billion in logic chip development over the next decade, and to a degree, it looks like the company's vision has already taken shape throughout 2019.
Interestingly enough, the same report mentions that Samsung Electronics made a bigger push into R&D last year despite the fact that sales and operating profits have dropped by 5.5% and 52.8% year-on-year, respectively. This only goes to show that Samsung is very serious about its long-term R&D vision, and it's willing to aim at higher profits in the long run rather than cashing in and resting on its laurels.
