China's Top 500 Firms Boost R&D Spending Again
Zhu Yanran
DATE:  Sep 02 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
China's Top 500 Firms Boost R&D Spending Again China's Top 500 Firms Boost R&D Spending Again

(Yicai Global) Sept. 2 -- China's biggest 500 companies by 2018 revenue continued to increase their spending on research and development last year, according to a non-government organization representing employers.

The 426 firms on the list who have posted their research investment spent almost CNY977 billion (USD136 billion) on development during the period, the China Enterprise Confederation/China Enterprise Directors Association said in a report published yesterday. The total figure was up 21.7 percent annually, while the average per company rose 9.1 percent to CNY2.3 billion (USD321 million).

The list spans 76 industries with almost half in the manufacturing sector and 173 service providers. 194 of the companies earned more than CNY100 billion in income in 2018, while six earned over CNY1 trillion for a total of CNY79.1 trillion among the 500. The threshold to make the list increased for the 17th straight year to CNY32.5 billion.

R&D spending made up 1.6 percent of revenue, up 0.4 point from the previous year. Communications equipment manufacturing was the top sector, leading the way in R&D investment as a proportion of revenue and average expenditure.

Some 396 of the 500 companies filed for at least one patent last year, applying for a combined 110.8 million, according to the report. They held CNY299 trillion worth of assets at the end of 2018, up 9.1 percent.

Editor: James Boynton

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Keywords:   R&D Spending