South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics topped the world's research and development spending list in 2017.
This is the *first time that a Korean company has taken the top spot.... since data was first compiled in 2004.
Yoon Jung-min has this story.
Samsung Electronics spent more money on research and development than any other company in the world last year.
According to the 2018 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, the South Korean tech giant invested more than 15 billion U.S. dollars in R&D in 2017.
That amounts to an eleven-and-a-half percent increase compared to the previous year.
Samsung was followed in the rankings by Google's holding company Alphabet, German auto giant Volkswagen, Microsoft and Chinese tech firm Huawei.

Samsung Electronics might have outmatched its rivals when it comes to total R&D spending, but its 7.2% ratio of R&D spending to revenue was lower than rivals Intel, which spent 20.9% on R&D, and Huawei, which spent 14.7% of its revenue on R&D.

South Korea's LG Electronics came 53rd in the rankings with nearly 3 billion dollars of R&D spending.
Chipmaker SK hynix climbed 16 places to 67th in the rankings,... and Hyundai Motor moved up four spots to 73rd.
Yoon Jung-min, Arirang News.