The emphasis on technological innovation by listed companies has reached an unprecedented level, with a continuous increase in R&D investment. According to statistics from the Securities Times reporter, as of 8 PM on August 30, 2024, a total of 4,915 listed companies on the A-share market had disclosed their R&D investment situation for the first half of 2024, with a combined amount of 712.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3%.

In terms of the scale of R&D investment, among the 31 first-level industries of Shenwan, 14 industries have a total R&D expenditure of over ten billion yuan, and seven industries including electronics, automobiles, power equipment, computers, pharmaceuticals and biology, communications, and architectural decoration have exceeded 50 billion yuan. Among them, the electronics industry's total R&D investment reached 92.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.53%, ranking first; the fastest-growing R&D investment is in the communications industry, with a total investment of 52.9 billion yuan in the first half of the year, a year-on-year increase of 12.24%.

Looking at the intensity of R&D investment (the proportion of R&D expenditure to operating income), the R&D investment intensity of five industries including computers, national defense and military, electronics, mechanical equipment, and pharmaceuticals and biology all exceeded 5%. The computer industry leads the way, with the industry's R&D investment accounting for 10.72% of revenue in the first half of 2024. In terms of trading boards, the STAR Market, known as a hub for "hard technology," has an R&D investment intensity of 11%, the highest among the trading boards.

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In absolute terms, there were 1,125 listed companies with R&D investment exceeding 100 million yuan in the first half of 2024, 95 with over 1 billion yuan, and 4 with over 10 billion yuan. Among them, BYD's R&D investment scale ranked first, with an amount of 20.177 billion yuan, a significant increase of 41.64% compared to the same period last year, setting a new historical high, a figure much higher than the company's net profit of 14.113 billion yuan for the period. The announcement shows that in the first half of the year, in the field of new energy vehicles, the company deepened its core technology areas and accelerated the introduction of a series of globally leading forward-looking and disruptive technologies, gradually building a unique competitive edge from electrification to intelligence; in terms of secondary rechargeable batteries, product research and development and capacity enhancement progressed smoothly during the period, and the technology scale continued to lead domestically.

China Mobile ranked third with R&D expenditure of 14 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46.42%. In the first half of the year, the company vigorously promoted investment layout in strategic emerging industries and future industries such as artificial intelligence, integrated space-ground networks, basic software, and advanced manufacturing, promoting the synergy of industry and investment. At the same time, it continued to deepen innovation cooperation, working with leading enterprises, universities, and research institutes to continuously deepen the integration of industry, academia, research, and application.

It is worth noting that state-owned enterprises still carry the banner of R&D, with seven of the top ten being state-controlled enterprises, including six "China" enterprises. Among private enterprises, in addition to BYD, CATL and Midea Group's R&D expenditures are also among the top, reaching 8.6 billion yuan and 7.7 billion yuan, respectively.

In terms of R&D intensity, among the top 100 listed companies, 86 are concentrated in four industries: computers, pharmaceuticals and biology, electronics, and national defense and military. The total R&D investment of the top 100 companies is 21.9 billion yuan, accounting for more than 65% of operating income. Nevertheless, it should be recognized that this is mainly due to the lower scale of revenue, with only half of the top 100 companies reaching a revenue scale of 100 million yuan. If considering both the scale of R&D investment and R&D intensity, there are 11 listed companies with R&D investment exceeding 1 billion yuan and R&D investment accounting for more than 20% of operating income, including ZTE, iFLYTEK, BeiGene, and Hengrui Medicine, etc.

As a leading enterprise in the communications industry, ZTE has always attached great importance to independent research and development and maintains a high-intensity R&D investment. The R&D investment in the first half of the year reached 13.4 billion yuan, accounting for 21.49% of operating income. Facing the global development trends of digitalization and green and low-carbon, the company continues to strengthen the competitiveness of its DICT end-to-end full range of products and digital intelligent solutions, has accumulated several key technologies in the field of artificial intelligence, and continuously optimizes the market structure.

CICC Research believes that technological innovation is an inherent requirement for high-quality development in China. Only by accelerating technological innovation can a country enhance its irreplaceability in the industrial chain, which is conducive to improving the security of the industrial chain. China is currently facing a great change that has not been seen in a hundred years, facing increasingly fierce global technological competition, and future technological progress will rely more on independent research and development. Especially through technological innovation in cutting-edge fields, it continues to enhance the competitiveness of enterprises.