This photo, taken on April 7, 2020, shows the outdoor signage of Samsung Electronics Co. at its office building in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest memory chip maker, said Monday that it spent 5.36 trillion won (US$4.36 billion) on research and development activities in the first quarter of the year.
The investment surpassed the previous record high of 5.32 trillion won in the fourth quarter of 2018.
The first quarter figure is equal to 9.7 percent of the South Korean tech giant’s sales in the January-March period, compared with 9.6 percent from a year earlier.
Last year, Samsung Electronics spent 20.19 trillion won in research and development, marking the first time that its R&D spending exceeded 20 trillion won.
In March, Samsung Electronics said it will carry out investments as planned, despite the coronavirus pandemic.
Currently, Samsung Electronics holds more than 180,000 patents around the world, including 5,075 patents in South Korea and 8,729 patents in the United States.
(Yonhap)
