Samsung Electronics Co. was the world's fourth-largest spender on research and development (R&D) activities in 2019, a report showed Friday, trailing behind US and Chinese tech titans.

Samsung, the world's largest memory chip and smartphone producer, invested 15.5 billion euros ($18.8 billion) in 2019 to rank fourth among global firms in R&D spending, according to the Korea Institute for Advancement of Technology which cited data from the 2020 European Union Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard.

The South Korean tech giant previously topped the ranking in 2017 but was relegated to the second spot the following year.

Alphabet, the parent firm of Google, defended its leading status with 23.2 billion euros on R&D spending followed by Microsoft with 17.2 billion euros and China's Huawei with 16.7 billion euros.

Of the top 1,000 top R&D spending firms, 25 were from South Korea. They include LG Electronics (55th), SK hynix (64th) and Hyundai Motor (67th).

The United States had the most companies on the list with 318, followed by China with 168. (Yonhap)