BYD Company Limited (002594.SZ) invested 10.6 billion yuan in research and development in the first quarter, doubling its net profit.

On the evening of April 29, BYD Company Limited (002594.SZ) released its first quarter performance in 2024, with operating income of 124.944 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4%; net profit of 4.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 10.6%. The most eye-catching aspect is that BYD Company Limited invested 10.611 billion yuan in research and development in the first quarter, a year-on-year increase of 70%, reaching a historical high and surpassing Tesla's research and development investment of 1.15 billion US dollars (equivalent to 8.18 billion yuan) in the same period. A massive investment in research and development is crucial to ensure a company achieves technological leadership. Among the mainstream domestic car companies that have released their first quarter reports, only BYD Company Limited, SAIC Motor Corporation, and Chongqing Changan Automobile had research and development investment higher than net profit in the same period, with BYD Company Limited's research and development investment exceeding net profit by 132.2%, and SAIC and Changan's research and development investment exceeding net profit by 45.8% and 32.8% respectively, highlighting BYD Company Limited's strong research and development intensity in the industry. In recent years, BYD Company Limited has not held back on research and development investment. In 2023, BYD Company Limited invested over 39.9 billion yuan in research and development, almost double that of the second-ranked SAIC among domestic car companies, and more than double that of NIO, Great Wall, and Li Auto, and four times that of Geely. In addition, BYD Company Limited has over 102,800 research and development personnel, making it the car company with the most research and development personnel in the world. It has accumulated more than 48,000 patent applications worldwide, with over 30,000 granted patents. On average, it applies for 32 patents and grants 15 patents every working day, and has won four gold patents. It is through continuous and substantial investment in research and development that BYD Company Limited has been able to build a large technology reservoir, with globally leading new energy technologies such as blade batteries, e-platform 3.0, Easy 4-Side, Cloud Palace, DM-i Super Hybrid, and Xuanji architecture, ultimately achieving a surge in sales.