The World’s Top Companies Fueling R&D Spending Growth

Dorothy Neufeld
2025-07-01 13:44:00
www.visualcapitalist.com

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The World’s Top Companies Fueling R&D Spending Growth

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Key Takeaways

Nvidia’s research and development (R&D) spending grew by 18.2% in 2023—significantly lower than the 35% rise seen in 2022.
Across the pharmaceutical sector, Eli Lilly saw the fastest R&D growth, at 29.5%.
Meanwhile, in the auto industry, Germany’s ZF Friedrichshafen outpaced Tesla in R&D expansion, growing 33.1% compared to Tesla’s 29.1%.

In 2023, global corporate R&D spending rose by 8.3% to reach $1.2 trillion.

While investment in the ICT hardware sector dropped sharply—down 50% year-over-year—it saw the most R&D spend by a wide margin. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical sector, the second-largest by total spending, saw its R&D investment triple.

This graphic shows the top companies driving R&D spending growth, based on data from the latest WIPO Global Innovation Index.

Global Leaders in R&D Spending Growth

Below, we show the companies with the fastest R&D investment growth among the worlds’ top sectors for R&D spend.

For the analysis, data was collected from 1,700 of the world’s highest 2,500 R&D spenders in 2023.

Industry	Top 3 Companies	R&D Spending Growth Rate 2023 (%)
ICT Hardware	Nvidia	18.2
	Advanced Micro Devices	17.3
	Samsung Electronics	14.4
Software	Adobe	16.3
	Uber Technologies	13.1
	IBM	12.5
Pharmaceuticals	Eli Lilly	29.5
	Novartis	24
	Merck U.S.	21.7
Automobiles	ZF Friedrichshafen	33.1
	Tesla	29.1
	Nissan Motor	17.5
Construction/ Industrial Metals	China Energy Engineering Corporation	28.1
	Xinjiang Tianshan Cement	22.6
	China Communications Construction Company	19.4
Travel, Leisure, and Personal Goods	Trip.com Group	45.3
	Nintendo	25.9
	Airbnb	14.7
Health Care Equipment and Services	Shenzhen Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics	21.4
	B. Braun	17.7
	Edwards Lifesciences	13.4
Other	Paypal	34.5
	Petrochina	19.8
	Boeing	18.4

As we can see, Nvidia outpaced all other companies in the ICT hardware sector even as R&D spending growth slowed substantially.

Meanwhile, chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) was not far behind, with R&D investment increasing 17.3% over the year. Ranking third in the industry was Samsung Electronics, which spent nearly $21 billion on R&D in 2023. Like Nvidia and AMD, it is investing heavily in semiconductor research.

When it comes to the pharmaceutical sector, Eli Lilly led the pack with 29.5% annual growth to reach $9.1 billion. The company stands as one of the leading pharma companies offering obesity drugs alongside Novo Nordisk. Today, pharmaceuticals dominate in R&D intensity, with spending equal to 19% of total revenue—the highest among all industries.

In the automotive industry, German supplier ZF Friedrichshafen surpassed Tesla in R&D growth, recording a 33.1% increase compared to Tesla’s 29.1%.

Learn More on the Voronoi App

To learn more about this topic from a global perspective, check out this graphic on gross R&D expenditure by country.

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