The World’s Biggest R&D Spenders

It may come as no surprise that the companies spending the most on research and development are the tech giants. According to data collected by Nasdaq.com, Amazon wins the title of the world’s biggest spender, with R&D investments that amounted to nearly $43 billion in 2020, or about 11 percent of its revenue. Completing the podium are Alphabet and Huawei, which spent $27.6 billion and $22 billion, respectively, on innovation that year, or around 15 percent of their revenues. As our chart also shows, Meta Group (formerly Facebook) was the company in the top 7 that spent the most relative to its revenue, at 21 percent ($18.5 billion).

Nasdaq reports that the final big players to round off the top 10 include companies in the automotive and pharmaceutical industries, with Volkswagen, Intel, Roche and Johnson & Johnson occupying those spots. According to the National Science Board, the majority of global R&D investments are performed by just a few countries, with the U.S. accounting for 27 percent of the global share (or $656 billion) and China making up 22 percent (or $526 billion) in 2019.