The chart above displays the R&D spending of e-commerce giant Amazon from 2020 to 2023 for each quarter.
Amazon is the leading R&D spender in the entire industry, which spends more than double on research and development each year of what any other tech giant does. It has also experienced a lot of growth in both ecommerce and cloud segments over the recent years. Amazon’s R&D budget is growing just as rapidly as it is enormous. In 2022, its R&D expenses grew more than 30% compared to the prior year. The company spent $20.45 billion on research and development in the first quarter of 2023, which was around 38% higher compared to the same quarter of the prior year. Again in the second quarter of 2023, its spending on R&D was $21.93 billion which was significantly higher than the same quarter of the prior year.
Amazon’s Quarterly Research and Development Expenses 2020-2023
| 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Q1 | $9325 | $12488 | $14,842 | $20,450 |
| Q2 | $10388 | $13871 | $18,072 | $21,931 |
| Q3 | $10976 | $14380 | $19,485 | |
| Q4 | $12,049 | $15,313 | $20,814 | |
| Total | $42,740 | $56,052 | $73,213 |
In fiscal 2022, Amazon spent more than $73 billion on research and development. However, it appears the company is going to spend well above $80 billion on research and development in 2023. In the first half of the year, the company has already spent above $42 billion on research and development. During the second quarter of 2023, Amazon spent $21.9 billion on research and development compared to $18.07 billion in the same quarter of the prior year. So, Amazon’s R&D spending in the second quarter of 2023 was more than $3.8 billion higher compared to the sane quarter of the prior year.
In the first quarter of fiscal 2023, Amazon has spent $20.45 billion on research and development compared to $14.84 billion in the same quarter of the prior year. There was a significant difference between its spendings on research and development for the first quarter of 2021 and 2022. The company spent $5.6 billion more on research and development in the first quarter of 2023 compared to the same quarter of 2022.
Amazon’s total annual R&D spending has risen faster over the past few years. The company spent $42.7 billion on research and development in 2020 and $56.05 billion in 2021. In 2022, its total annual R&D expenses rose to $73.2 billion. In the first half of 2022 the company had spent $32.9 billion on research and development and in 2023’s first half, it has spent around $42.4 billion or $9.5 billion higher.
It shows the ecommerce giant’s aggressive focus on innovation. Its R&D spending is more than double of what any other tech giant spends.