We can expect big things from Samsung in 2021 and beyond after the South Korean tech giant was listed number one in research and development investment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to an analysis conducted by a corporate tracking company, Samsung spend the most money on R&D out of Korea’s top 500 companies, investing a whopping 15.8 trillion won ($7 billion) during the period of January to September 2020.

This is a total of 9.07% of Samsung’s cumulative sales of 175 trillion won.

Samsung was followed by fellow technology companies such as LG Electronics and LG Display, which invested more than 1 trillion won each.

Korean Game developer Netmarble also spent a significant amount on R&D – more than 20% of its cumulative sales for the period, while fellow game company NCSoft spent more than 15%.

According to the Korea Herald, R&D investment in the IT and electronics industries stood at a combined 24 trillion won, up by 463 billion won year-on-year.