Global spending on research and development continues to grow – Switzerland ranks 6th

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• The top 500 companies worldwide increased their spending on research and development by 9.4 percent in 2025, while revenues rose by 4.7 percent
• The growth of research and development spending in North America doubled from six to twelve percent
• Europe’s leading companies increased their research and development spending by around five percent despite stagnant overall revenues
• Two European companies – Roche and Volkswagen – are among the top ten R&D investors worldwide – seven are from the US and one from South Korea

Zurich, 12 May 2026 – The latest edition of the “Top 500 R&D” study¹ by the auditing and consulting firm EY in Switzerland shows: Despite economic and geopolitical uncertainties, the world’s highest-revenue companies once again significantly increased their investments in research and development (R&D) in 2025. The research and development budgets of the 500 companies worldwide with the highest R&D expenditures rose by 9.4 percent compared to the previous year, while their combined revenues increased by 4.7 percent.

While the revenues of Europe’s leading companies stagnated overall (±0 percent), they nevertheless increased their R&D expenditures by around five percent. Research investments developed even more dynamically in North America (up twelve percent) and the Asia-Pacific region (up nine percent).

In 2025, spending growth accelerated strongly once again among US companies in particular – from six percent in the previous year to twelve percent – while Asian companies expanded their increase from seven percent to nine percent. European companies recorded the weakest performance, although they maintained the increase in their R&D budgets at around five percent, as in the previous year.

US Corporations Spend the Most on Innovations – Switzerland Ranks 6th

In 2025, the 140 US corporations among the top 500 invested a total of 576 billion euros in innovations. In contrast, the 126 European companies in the ranking together accounted for 238 billion euros. Looking at individual countries, the US clearly remains in the lead, followed by China/Hong Kong (120 billion euros) and Japan (90 billion euros). They are followed by Germany (79 billion euros), South Korea (40 billion euros), and Switzerland (34 billion euros), which ranks sixth once again, as in the previous year. Switzerland is thus narrowly ahead of the UK (33 billion euros), France (27 billion euros), and the Netherlands (26 billion euros).

The dominance of the US is also evident in R&D intensity, which represents the percentage of R&D expenditures relative to revenue: While this figure among US companies has risen to an average of 9.2 percent, it amounts to only 6.7 percent among European companies. Looking at individual countries, Dutch corporations rank first with 9.7 percent, followed by the US. The 14 Swiss companies surveyed once again excel in this regard: With an average R&D intensity of 8.4 percent, Switzerland ranks third worldwide. They are followed by Sweden (7.2 percent), Germany (6.2 percent), the UK (5.9 percent), and France (5.5 percent).

Stefan Rösch-Rütsche, Country Managing Partner of EY in Switzerland, explains: “The 14 Swiss companies surveyed among the top 500 demonstrate a globally high budget for research and development. This is a positive sign for Switzerland as a centre for innovation and research and shows that Swiss corporations remain willing to invest heavily in R&D in order to secure global competitiveness.”

Technology Corporations at the Top – Seven US Companies in the Top 10

Seven companies in the global top ten with the highest innovation expenditures are based in the United States. Amazon² had the world’s largest innovation budget in 2025 at the equivalent of 96.2 billion euros (up 23 percent). In second place is Google’s parent company Alphabet with development expenditures of 54.2 billion euros (up 24 percent), followed by Meta Platforms (including Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram) with 50.9 billion euros in research and development expenditures (up 31 percent). Two European companies also rank among the top ten: the automotive manufacturer Volkswagen in seventh place (18.4 billion euros, up two percent) and the Swiss pharmaceutical group Roche in eighth place (14.3 billion euros, down 13 percent).

“US companies have once again increased their research and development expenditures more strongly than their European competitors; as a result, the gap between the US and Europe continues to widen,” observes Stefan Rösch-Rütsche. “Innovation is the key to long-term business success. It should therefore give cause for concern if American companies consistently invest significantly more in research and development than European companies,” Rösch-Rütsche continues.

Pharmaceutical and Biotechnology Corporations Invest the Most

Globally, pharmaceutical and biotech companies traditionally demonstrate the highest R&D intensity: In the 2025 financial year, the share of research investments relative to revenue in this sector averaged 15 percent. Technology corporations follow globally with an average of 10.5 percent. In Europe, however, technology companies lead the way: They achieve an average R&D intensity of 15.8 percent, ahead of pharma/biotech (14.7 percent), followed by the automotive industry (6.9 percent) and healthcare/medical technology (6.8 percent). In North America and Asia, meanwhile, pharmaceutical corporations remain the undisputed leaders in terms of research intensity (16.4 percent and 13.6 percent respectively).

“The strong investment push in the field of Artificial Intelligence is significantly increasing research intensity, particularly among technology companies. At the same time, it is becoming clear that companies are using innovation as a strategic lever to secure their competitiveness in the long term, especially in times of geopolitical uncertainty,” says Stefan Rösch-Rütsche.

Two Swiss Companies Among the Global Top 100

A total of two Swiss companies are among the top 100 corporations with the world’s highest R&D expenditures. The Swiss ranking is led by Roche: The Basel-based pharmaceutical group ranks eighth among all companies with R&D expenditures of 14.3 billion euros. Novartis also makes it into the top 100, ranking 18th with R&D expenditures of 9.9 billion euros.

¹ Analysis of the research and development intensity of the top 500 publicly listed companies with the highest research and development expenditures worldwide. Only the ongoing activities of the companies were considered. Banks, insurance companies, and investment firms were not included in the analysis.

² Amazon does not disclose its “research and development expenditures.” As an approximation, the figures for “technology and infrastructure” expenditures are used here, which are higher than the actual research and development expenditures.

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