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.
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 | |
| Q3 | $10976 | $14380 | $19485 | |
| Q4 | $12,049 | $15,313 | $20,814 | |
| Total | $42,740 | $56,052 | $73,213 |