Microsoft fourth largest R&D spender in the world

A new list from PricewaterhouseCoopers reveals world's largest investors in research & development in 2014. Volkswagen ranks first with $13.5 billion, closely followed by Samsung with $13.4 billion and Intel ranks third with R&D spending of $10.6 billion. Microsoft ranks fourth with a total R&D spending of $10.4 billion this year, up 6.1 percent versus the year before.

Google takes the ninth place with $8.0 billion and Amazon has the fourteenth spot with $6.6 billion in R&D spending. Despite being ranked as the most innovative company for the second year in a row by PwC, Apple is nowhere to be found in the top 20 list as the company's R&D spending is $4.5 billion, a mere 2.6 percent of the company's sales.

Compared with other tech giants, it's quite remarkable how little Apple invests in R&D. Firms like Microsoft and Google spend over 5x as much on R&D in relationship to their sales volume.

When a company invests in R&D, they are thinking about the future and taking chances on crazy ideas and technologies. Seeing that Microsoft and others continue to invest significant capital into this field shows that they know the importance research plays into the future success of their companies.

Source: Neowin