Shenzhen firms hike investment in R&D sector

Nearly 20 percent of Shenzhen-registered listed companies devoted more than 10 percent of their operating revenue to research and development last year, a level on par with globally leading high-tech enterprises like Google and Apple, according to a report.

In all, 256 companies covered in the Shenzhen-registered Listed Companies Development Report disclosed their R&D spending in their 2017 annual reports.

Between them, the companies spent approximately 77.75 billion yuan ($11.19 billion) on R&D, up 24.8 percent year-on-year.