Samsung Electronics Co. was ranked fourth in research and development (R&D) spending by chipmakers last year, according to market data on Monday.
Samsung spent US$2.88 billion in R&D activities in 2016, up 11 percent from 2015, the data by market researcher IC Insights showed.
Intel Corp. came first with R&D expenditures of $12.7 billion, followed by Qualcomm Inc. with $5.1 billion and Broadcom Ltd. with $3.1 billion.
Intel's R&D spending accounted for 22.4 percent of its total sales last year, compared with Samsung's 6.5 percent.
"Intel's R&D spending is lofty and exceeded the combined R&D spending of the next three companies on the list," the market researcher said.
IC Insights said Samsung "had the lowest investment-intensity level with 6.5 percent of its total semiconductor revenues going to chip-related research and development in 2016."
SK hynix Inc. was ranked 10th with R&D spending of $1.5 billion last year, up 9 percent from 2015.
SK hynix's R&D spending accounted for 10.2 percent of its total sales last year.(Yonhap)