South Korea's top tech giant, Samsung Electronics Co., ranked No. 2 in research and development (R&D) spending for the second consecutive year in 2013, data showed Tuesday.

According to the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Evaluation and Planning (KISTEP), which cited the data compiled by the European Commission, Samsung spent 10.16 billion euros (US$12.12 billion) on R&D projects in 2013, lower than the 11.7 billion euros by German carmaker Volkswagen AG.

U.S.-based Microsoft Corp. with 8.2 billion euros followed the German carmaker, with Intel Corp. also holding a comparable figure of 7.6 billion euros.

Three South Korean firms made it on the top 100 list, with LG Electronics Inc. placing 49th and Hyundai Motor Co. ranking 99th, up 20 notches from a year earlier.

Twenty-four South Korean companies were included in the top 1,000 list in 2013, with the amount of their combined R&D investment reaching 18.1 billion euros, up 11 percent from a year earlier.

The United States had the most companies on the top 1,000 list at 326, while China held a comparable figure of 46.

South Korea's R&D fund ratio in comparison to sales came to 2.82 percent on average, hovering below the world's average of 3.58 percent, the data also showed. (Yonhap)