Samsung Electronics Co., the world's top maker of smartphones, memory chips and flat-panel TVs, spent around 12 trillion won (US$10.69 billion) on research and development activities last year to secure cutting-edge technologies, a report showed Tuesday.
According to its 2012 business report, Samsung spent 11.9 trillion won on R&D activities last year, up 15.6 percent from 10.29 trillion won in 2011.
The 2012 figure also represents 5.9 percent of last year's sales totaling 201 trillion won, the report showed. In 2010, Samsung spent a total of 9.38 trillion won on R&D.
Meanwhile, the report showed that Samsung applied for a total of 18,139 patents last year that include 11,973 international patents.
The company acquired 2,013 patents in South Korea last year and secured 5,081 patents in the U.S.
As of now, Samsung Electronics holds a total of 102,995 patents for LCD panels and other electronic device technologies.
Its workers reached some 90,700 at the end of last year, the report showed. (Yonhap News)
