Seoul, Nov 15 (IANS): Samsung Electronics's research and development (R&D) spending hit a record high in the first nine months of the year, its report showed on Monday, as it seeks to expand presence amid intensifying competition with foreign rivals.

Samsung invested a total of 16.19 trillion won ($13.73 billion) in R&D in the January-September period, up 289 billion won from a year earlier, to mark its largest spending ever during the cited period, according to its quarterly business report.

The South Korean tech giant said its capital expenditures last year reached 33.5 trillion won, which breaks down to 30 trillion won in chipmaking facilities and 2.1 trillion won in display-related facilities, according to the report.

Over the next three years, Samsung plans to spend 240 trillion won in facilities, 180 trillion won of which will be invested here, reports Yonhap news agency.

The report showed that Samsung's five major customers in the first nine months of the year were Apple, Best Buy, Deutsche Telekom, Verizon and Supreme Electronics Co. of Taiwan. They accounted for 15 percent of the company's total sales.

The number of Samsung employees in South Korea grew to a fresh record high of 114,373 as of September, up 5,375 from a year earlier.