Chinese companies close R&D spending gap with U.S., led by Huawei

GUANGZHOU -- Major Chinese companies continue to boost R&D spending, eclipsing their European counterparts to rank second following the U.S. in 2022, led by tech giants like Huawei Technologies.

Research and development expenditures by 2,500 leading companies worldwide totaled 1.25 trillion euros ($1.36 trillion) in 2022, a European Commission report published at the end of 2023 found. China accounted for 17.8% of this total, surpassing Europe's ratio of 17.5% and trailing only the U.S. at 42.1%.