The city in China that is most dedicated to R & D!

Many cities envy Shenzhen for its strong economy, but how many cities are willing to bear the same intensity of R & D investment as Shenzhen? And how many enterprises can, like those in Shenzhen, "burn money" on R & D for decades and tolerate unimpressive short - term financial statements?

Today, let's talk about how willing Shenzhen enterprises are to spend money on R & D?

In 2024, Shenzhen's R & D expenditure reached 245.307 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 9.7%. The total amount ranked second in the country for two consecutive years, and the R & D intensity reached 6.67%, ranking first in the country, making it the city with the highest R & D intensity in China.

In the eyes of many, R & D is a high - risk thing, and often no returns can be seen in the short term. But why does Shenzhen "insist" on R & D so much?

Some people say that the future of a city depends on R & D. Without R & D, even the most brilliant CBD will eventually decline, and even the longest industrial chain is just working for others. For enterprises, it's even more cruel. The R & D expenses saved today may be the painful price of being eliminated tomorrow.

That's why Shenzhen enterprises generally regard R & D as their lifeline. They are willing to bet today's earnings on tomorrow and give up immediate benefits for long - term value.

It should be noted that Shenzhen has relatively weak higher - education resources, and more than 90% of the R & D funds are contributed by enterprises. Among them, private enterprises are the absolute innovation force in Shenzhen.

So, which are the top 100 most innovative enterprises in Shenzhen?

Recently, Shenzhen held a special press conference on intellectual property achievements in emerging fields. At the conference, the "Top 100 List of Shenzhen Enterprises' Patent Innovation Strength in 2025" (hereinafter referred to as the "list") was released. This list was compiled by the Shenzhen Intellectual Property Protection Center.

List basis: Enterprises in the city are comprehensively scored from 35 dimensions such as patent quantity, quality, growth rate, overseas layout, technological advancement, and operation activity to select the top 100 patent - innovative enterprises.

This list is of high value. It includes industry veterans like Huawei, Tencent, and BYD, as well as many new global - renowned faces.

01.

Rankings of Shenzhen Enterprises in Patent Innovation

The following are the top ten in the "Top 100 List of Shenzhen Enterprises' Patent Innovation Strength in 2025":

The top - ten enterprises are Huawei Technologies, BYD Co., Ltd., Tencent Technology, ZTE Corporation, Honor Terminal, Mindray Medical, Ping An Technology, HKC Corporation, AfterShokz, and TCL New Technology.

It is reported that this list was first released in 2020, and Huawei has ranked first for seven consecutive years.

Data shows that Huawei's R & D expenditure in 2025 was 192.3 billion yuan. As of the end of 2025, Huawei held about 165,000 valid authorized patents globally, and the cumulative R & D investment in the past decade exceeded 1.382 trillion yuan.

In addition, Tencent's R & D expenditure in 2025 was 85.747 billion yuan, and BYD's was 63.441 billion yuan.

From the perspective of industrial distribution, 39 of the top 100 patent - innovative enterprises in Shenzhen are engaged in artificial intelligence, accounting for nearly 40%. AI has become the most popular track for Shenzhen's technology companies.

It should be noted that some enterprises are involved in more than one industry. For example, Huawei and BYD are each involved in three industries, all of which cover artificial intelligence. In addition, giants like Tencent, ZTE, Ping An, and DJI have also laid out the AI industry.

After AI, 20 enterprises in the new energy industry are on the list, ranking second and accounting for one - fifth of the list.

Among other industries, 7 and 6 enterprises in the semiconductor and integrated circuit and robotics industries are on the list respectively.

02.

Frequent Appearance of "Dark - Horse" Enterprises, Leading in Patents for 22 Consecutive Years

In addition to well - known giants like Huawei, Tencent, BYD, and DJI, in recent years, several emerging enterprises with global influence have emerged in Shenzhen, and several of them have made it onto the patent - innovation top 100 list.

In the field of panoramic cameras, an enterprise called Insta360 has emerged in Shenzhen and become popular globally. It has an 85% global market share, leading by a large margin, and ranks 76th on the list.

Ubtech Robotics, known as the first Chinese stock in the field of humanoid robots, ranked first in both global sales and revenue in the full - size humanoid robot field last year. It ranks 78th on the list.

WeBank, the largest unicorn enterprise in Shenzhen, ranks 53rd on the list.

Shenzhen has achieved the global top position in another field. It is reported that 9 out of every 10 consumer - grade 3D printers sold globally are produced in Shenzhen. Representative enterprises in this field in Shenzhen, such as Creality and Sovol, rank 54th and 87th on the list respectively.

In addition, Shenzhen has a very eye - catching statistic: The number of PCT international patent applications has ranked first in the country for 22 consecutive years.

It is reported that in 2025, the number of patent authorizations in Shenzhen reached 214,539, ranking first in the country for 8 consecutive years; the number of PCT international patent applications was 19,660, ranking first in the country for 22 consecutive years; and the number of trademark registrations was 211,098, ranking first in the country for 3 consecutive years.

The number of high - value invention patents per 10,000 people is 119.70, about 7.48 times the national average (16).

Shenzhen's strong patent output strength has helped the "Shenzhen - Hong Kong - Guangzhou" innovation cluster rank first globally, making it the first world - class innovation cluster in China to reach the top. It has also enabled Shenzhen to steadily improve its scientific and technological innovation level and economic aggregate.

In the first quarter of this year, Shenzhen's GDP reached 959.413 billion yuan, a year - on - year increase of 5.8% at constant prices. Among them, the added value of industrial enterprises above designated size increased by 8.7% year - on - year, 2.6 percentage points higher than the national average and 3.3 percentage points higher than that of Guangdong Province.

Why is Shenzhen's economy so resilient and full of potential? To put it simply and bluntly: It is willing to spend money on R & D and invest in the future.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Urban Warfare", written by the Sun Bushu Team and published by 36Kr with authorization.