Samsung Electronics Co., the world’s largest manufacturer of smartphone and memory chips, took the No. 2 spot among the world’s top 20 spenders on research and development, industry sources said Thursday.

Samsung’s R&D spending reached $10.4 billion in the period of June 2012 to June 2013, just behind Volkswagen which spent the most during the cited period at $11.4 billion, according to data compiled by Booz&Company.

Roche Holding came in third with $10.2 billion R&D spending, followed by Intel with $10.1 billion, Microsoft with $9.8 billion, Toyota with $9.8 billion and Novartis with $9.3 billion.

Meanwhile, Samsung ranked third on the list of the world’s top 10 innovative companies selected by Booz&Company, up one notch from last year.

Apple and Google took the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, respectively.

Amazon, 3M, General Electric, Microsoft and IBM followed suit, according to the U.S.-based consulting firm. (Yonhap News)