Seoul, Dec 21 (IANS): Samsung Electronics, South Korea's top electronics firm, ranked second in terms of research and development (R&D) spending last year, slipping from the top spot in 2017, according to an European Union (EU) report.

Samsung spent 14.8 billion euros ($16.4 billion) on R&D, according to the 2019 edition of the EU Industrial R&D Investment Scoreboard, which analysed top 2,500 companies in the world.

Samsung's figure was up 10 per cent from a year earlier, but was not enough to defend the top slot from Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google, that spent 18.3 billion euros, up 37 per cent from a year ago, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday.

Samsung was followed by Microsoft, Volkswagen, Huawei, Apple and Intel, according to the report. Samsung has been among the top 5 on the EU list since 2014.

Samsung was the only South Korean firm in the top 50, where 22 companies were from the United States, the report showed.

South Korea's LG Electronics was ranked 57th, SK Hynix and Hyundai Motor 63rd and 69th on the list, respectively.