Top 1,000 R&D investors include 44 from Taiwan

Forty-four Taiwanese companies were ranked among the world's top 1,000 non-EU companies in terms of investing the largest sums in research and development last year, according to a new report by the European Commission's Joint Research Center.

The 2007 EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, published this month, shows that the largest number of companies on the list were from the US and Japan.

The 44 Taiwanese companies on the list covered semiconductors, electronic equipment, computer hardware, electrical components and equipment, personal goods, fixed line telecommunications, automobiles and parts, electricity, leisure goods, industrial metals, computer services and industrial machinery.

They included Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電), which ranked 120th for investing 374.15 million euros (US$528.75 million) in R&D last year; BenQ Corp (明基), which ranked 132nd for investing 349.55 million euros; and Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), which ranked 176th for investing 248 million euros.

The annual report indicates that corporate R&D grew by 10 percent last year, with EU-based companies increasing R&D investment by 7.4 percent.

Total R&D investment by the top 1,000 EU-based companies and the top 1,000 non-EU companies amounted to 372 billion euros, accounting for more than 85 percent of the world's total, according to the report.

Worldwide, the US-based pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc was the largest R&D investor last year, spending 5.76 billion euros.

Among EU countries, the Germany-based automobile manufacturer DaimlerChrysler took top spot for spending 5.23 billion euros on R&D.

By sector, pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies invested the most in R&D last year, overtaking the equipment sector and technology hardware companies.

The report showed that EU companies continued to raise R&D investment at a lower rate than companies in the rest of the world.