Intel Corp. came first with R&D expenditures of $12.7 billion, followed by Qualcomm Inc. with $5.1 billion and Broadcom Ltd. with $3.1 billion.

Intel's R&D spending accounted for 22.4 percent of its total sales last year, compared with Samsung's 6.5 percent.

"Intel's R&D spending is lofty and exceeded the combined R&D spending of the next three companies on the list," the market researcher said.

IC Insights said Samsung "had the lowest investment-intensity level with 6.5 percent of its total semiconductor revenues going to chip-related research and development in 2016."

SK hynix Inc. was ranked 10th with R&D spending of $1.5 billion last year, up 9 percent from 2015.

SK hynix's R&D spending accounted for 10.2 percent of its total sales last year. (Yonhap)