Research and development spending is absolutely crucial for leading technology companies that hope to stay on
top, and Samsung is a company that isn’t afraid to spend when it comes to R&D. The company has stated in the past that it planned to make some huge investments in marketing and R&D in an effort to keep rivals at bay, and now The Korea Timesreports that Samsung will spend roughly $4.5 billion over the next three years solely to build five new research and development centers in South Korea. “R&D is crucial to ensuring success in the rapidly-changing consumer electronics industry. Total investment will amount to 5 trillion won,” an unnamed Samsung executive told the paper. The exec said that one design center alone, which will be built in southern Seoul, will house nearly 10,000 Samsung designers, developers and other R&D workers. Samsung spent approximately $10.5 billion on R&D in 2012 alone, while top rival Apple spent about $3.4 billion.
