Which companies invest the most in research?
Research spending is a bet on products that don’t exist yet. It depresses today’s profits, so companies that spend heavily can look expensive on earnings while building the next decade’s revenue.
Updated Sep 27, 2026
$758.2B a year
The 193 large S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 companies that report research spending put $758.2B into it over the past year, +20% on a year earlier. The five biggest spenders, led by AMZN, account for 45% of it.
By sector and over time
The typical research share in each sector. Select the market or any company below to see its trend.
The 60 most research-intensive companies
Ranked by research spending as a share of revenue. Select a column to sort.
| Company | Intensity | R&D / revenue | R&D a year | R&D, 1Y | Sector | R&D share, 3 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MRNA Moderna | 100Heavy | 129.1% | $2.9B | −25% | Health Care | |
| INSM Insmed | 99Heavy | 75.7% | $860.8M | +30% | Health Care | |
| ARM Arm Holdings | 99Heavy | 57.5% | $3.0B | +32% | Information Technology | |
| DDOG Datadog | 98Heavy | 43.7% | $1.7B | +30% | Information Technology | |
| MRK Merck & Co. | 98Heavy | 42.7% | $28.4B | +66% | Health Care | |
| REGN Regeneron Pharmaceuticals | 97Heavy | 41.6% | $6.5B | +17% | Health Care | |
| INCY Incyte | 97Heavy | 37.0% | $2.2B | +9% | Health Care | |
| EA Electronic Arts | 96Heavy | 36.5% | $2.9B | +8% | Communication Services | |
| COIN Coinbase | 96Heavy | 35.2% | $1.9B | +29% | Financials | |
| CDNS Cadence Design Systems | 95Heavy | 33.0% | $1.9B | +15% | Information Technology | |
| ALNY Alnylam Pharmaceuticals | 95Heavy | 31.4% | $1.5B | +30% | Health Care | |
| META Meta Platforms | 94Heavy | 31.4% | $71.6B | +48% | Communication Services | |
| VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals | 94Heavy | 31.4% | $4.0B | +3% | Health Care | |
| SNPS Synopsys | 93Heavy | 30.6% | $2.9B | +26% | Information Technology | |
| CRWD CrowdStrike | 93Heavy | 28.8% | $1.6B | +22% | Information Technology | |
| WDAY Workday, Inc. | 92Heavy | 27.7% | $2.8B | +6% | Information Technology | |
| ZS Zscaler | 92Heavy | 26.9% | $903.4M | +34% | Information Technology | |
| MRVL Marvell Technology | 91Heavy | 25.8% | $2.4B | +21% | Information Technology | |
| VEEV Veeva Systems | 91Heavy | 23.8% | $821.9M | +12% | Health Care | |
| INTC Intel | 90Heavy | 23.1% | $13.2B | −13% | Information Technology | |
| IT Gartner | 90Heavy | 22.8% | $1.5B | – | Information Technology | |
| AMD Advanced Micro Devices | 89Heavy | 22.7% | $9.4B | +35% | Information Technology | |
| QCOM Qualcomm | 89Heavy | 22.4% | $9.9B | +10% | Information Technology | |
| MCHP Microchip Technology | 88Heavy | 22.2% | $1.1B | +14% | Information Technology | |
| PANW Palo Alto Networks | 88Heavy | 22.2% | $2.6B | +29% | Information Technology | |
| NOW ServiceNow | 87Heavy | 22.1% | $3.3B | +19% | Information Technology | |
| ADSK Autodesk | 86Heavy | 22.1% | $1.7B | +9% | Information Technology | |
| AXON Axon Enterprise | 86Heavy | 22.0% | $708.3M | +26% | Industrials | |
| BMY Bristol Myers Squibb | 85Heavy | 21.8% | $10.7B | +7% | Health Care | |
| SWKS Skyworks Solutions | 85Heavy | 21.1% | $846.7M | +17% | Information Technology | |
| PFE Pfizer | 84Heavy | 20.1% | $12.8B | +25% | Health Care | |
| AMGN Amgen | 84Heavy | 20.0% | $7.6B | +19% | Health Care | |
| GILD Gilead Sciences | 83Heavy | 19.9% | $6.1B | +3% | Health Care | |
| BIIB Biogen | 83Heavy | 19.6% | $1.9B | −20% | Health Care | |
| ABNB Airbnb | 82Heavy | 18.9% | $2.5B | +11% | Consumer Discretionary | |
| NXPI NXP Semiconductors | 82Heavy | 18.4% | $2.4B | +5% | Information Technology | |
| LLY Lilly (Eli) | 81Heavy | 18.3% | $14.6B | +23% | Health Care | |
| KEYS Keysight Technologies | 81Heavy | 18.1% | $1.2B | +21% | Information Technology | |
| TTD Trade Desk (The) | 80Heavy | 18.1% | $542.0M | +6% | Communication Services | |
| ADBE Adobe Inc. | 80Moderate | 18.1% | $4.7B | +12% | Information Technology | |
| FFIV F5, Inc. | 79Moderate | 17.9% | $593.3M | +12% | Information Technology | |
| TRMB Trimble Inc. | 79Moderate | 17.3% | $655.5M | 0% | Information Technology | |
| HOOD Robinhood Markets | 78Moderate | 17.1% | $710.0M | −16% | Financials | |
| EW Edwards Lifesciences | 78Moderate | 16.7% | $1.1B | +3% | Health Care | |
| GDDY GoDaddy | 77Moderate | 16.6% | $846.5M | +3% | Information Technology | |
| TTWO Take-Two Interactive | 77Moderate | 16.3% | $1.1B | +4% | Communication Services | |
| PTC PTC Inc. | 76Moderate | 16.1% | $474.3M | +5% | Information Technology | |
| INTU Intuit | 76Moderate | 15.7% | $3.4B | +15% | Information Technology | |
| AMZN Amazon | 75Moderate | 15.6% | $121.1B | +26% | Consumer Discretionary | |
| GOOGL Alphabet Inc. (Class A) | 74Moderate | 15.5% | $69.0B | +30% | Communication Services | |
| JNJ Johnson & Johnson | 74Moderate | 15.4% | $15.1B | −11% | Health Care | |
| GRMN Garmin | 73Moderate | 15.4% | $1.2B | +12% | Consumer Discretionary | |
| CIEN Ciena | 73Moderate | 15.4% | $924.9M | +13% | Information Technology | |
| CSCO Cisco | 72Moderate | 15.1% | $9.6B | +3% | Information Technology | |
| EBAY eBay Inc. | 72Moderate | 14.9% | $1.8B | +17% | Consumer Discretionary | |
| CRM Salesforce | 71Moderate | 14.5% | $6.4B | +11% | Information Technology | |
| ADI Analog Devices | 71Moderate | 14.2% | $2.0B | +18% | Information Technology | |
| ORCL Oracle Corporation | 70Moderate | 14.2% | $10.2B | +1% | Information Technology | |
| NTAP NetApp | 70Moderate | 13.8% | $1.0B | +2% | Information Technology | |
| AVGO Broadcom | 69Moderate | 13.3% | $11.8B | +16% | Information Technology |
How to read this page
How it’s measured. Research and development over the last four reported quarters as a share of revenue, for S&P 500 and Nasdaq-100 companies with at least $1 billion in revenue that report it separately.
Sources. Company financial statements from Financial Modeling Prep.
Only companies that report research and development as its own line are included; many industrial and consumer companies fold it into other costs.
Research intensity measures effort, not results. The score ranks it from 0 to 100 across the companies shown.
This page is information, not investment advice. About our data and methods ›