With tech shake-ups, automotive layoffs, and healthcare funding cuts all recent themes, the R&D World Index dipped nearly 4% last week. Specifically, the R&D World Index (RDWI) for the week ending March 14, 2025, closed at 3,951.90 for the 25 companies in the RDWI. The Index was down -3.76% (or -154.52 basis points). Five RDWI members gained value last week from 0.13% (Astra Zeneca PLC) to 16.52% (Intel), while twenty RDWI members lost value last week from -0.08% (Merck & Co.) to -10.70% (Apple).
Technology & Electronics
1. Apple delays AI upgrade to Siri application
RDW Index member Apple, Cupertino, California, announced last week that it is delaying an artificial intelligence (AI) upgrade to its Siri application. The company expects to roll out the new AI enhancements next year. The AI enhancements are expected to make Siri more personalized and enable it to take action for users within and across applications. Even open-source voice projects that sound more organic have emerged recently, unlike Siri, which was first launched in 2011.
2. Seagate develops breakthrough storage technology
Seagate Technology, Fremont, California, announced last week that it has developed a diminutive laser-based heat source for its spinning magnetic platters to help encode information in ever-greater quantities for its hard disk drives. The company has started shipping these new devices with up to 36 terabytes (TB) of data. The company has achieved nearly twice that amount of data in the research lab, and its researchers think that even more is possible. Analysts expect the company’s sales to increase by 55% by 2026 due to this innovation6.
[Image courtesy of Samsung]
3. Samsung makes record-breaking R&D investment
Samsung Electronics, Suwon, South Korea, announced last week that it had a record-breaking R&D investment of $24.1 billion in 2024, a 23.5% increase over what it invested in R&D in 2023. The company’s R&D investments have been consistent, aimed at strengthening its position in AI, semiconductors, high-performance memory, and server-related technologies. These investments are part of the company’s plan to optimize its semiconductor products for large language models and expand on-device AI capabilities across its consumer ecosystem.
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
4. Johns Hopkins University faces federal funding cuts
Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Baltimore, is preparing for staff layoffs according to a report last week in the Wall Street Journal as a result of funding cuts from the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The non-profit JHPIEGO (Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics) which was funded through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is one of the funding cut targets by DOGE. The Trump administration has canceled $800 million in grants to JHU. The university is the largest recipient of health-based federal government research funding, primarily through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)/National Institutes of Health (NIH). The uncertainty of government health research funding is already having an adverse effect on the hiring of prospective student researchers and post-doctoral candidates who are taking alternative positions that are more assured for long-term funding.
Automotive & Manufacturing
5. Porsche announces major job cuts
[Courtesy of Porsche]
Porsche AG, Stuttgart, Germany, a division of RDW Index member Volkswagen AG, announced last week that it plans to eliminate up to 3,900 jobs over the next several years. About 1,900 of those jobs will be gone by 2029, mostly through natural turnover and voluntary agreements. The remaining 2,000 jobs will be gone through the expiration of fixed term contracts. Porsche currently employs a total of 42,600 workers. The company expects the automotive market to remain challenging through the end of 2025, with intensifying competition in China, where prices have been pushed lower and the luxury automotive market has fallen. The company is continuing to invest in R&D for electric, traditional gas combustion and hybrid automotive products.
6. Volkswagen announces new model strategy
RDW Index member Volkswagen AG, Wolfsburg, Germany, announced last week that it plans to post corporate profits in 2025 that are 5% higher than it posted in 2024. The company plans to introduce about 30 new models in 2025 across all of its brands, with its Audi division focusing on new vehicles in China in conjunction with its regional partner. The Chinese marketplace will see additional price discounts in 2025 offered by competitors, but the new Audi models will be followed by new VW-branded cars in 2026, which the company expects will boost its position within the country. By 2030, the company expects to be delivering 30 new electric vehicles tailored to local requirements.
Additional Developments
7. Chinese vessels conduct strategic ocean research
Chinese naval research vessels have been mapping vast stretches of the ocean floor far from their mainland shores, according to recent reports. There are as many as a dozen research vessels operating in global waters at any given time mapping the seabed and gathering information of currents, salinity, and temperatures. These data can be used to determine minerals that could be extracted from the seabed. Analysts state that the data collected are being used to advance China’s geopolitical agenda.
8. Renewable energy surpasses coal in US power generation
Ember, an energy-related think tank headquartered in Berlin, Germany, announced last week that wind and solar energy generated more electricity in the U.S. in 2024 than coal for the first time. The two renewable energy sources accounted for 17% of the U.S. power mix, while coal fell to a low of 15%. Nuclear and hydro sources have remained comparatively steady sources for the past twenty years. Overall, the U.S. installed 50 GW of new solar capacity in 2024, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, Washington, DC. Solar and wind sources have overtaken coal in 24 states, including Arizona, Illinois, Colorado, Florida, and Maryland within the past several years.
The R&D World Index
R&D World’s R&D Index is a weekly stock market summary of the top international companies involved in R&D. The top 25 industrial R&D spenders in 2020 were selected based on the latest listings from Schonfeld & Associates’ June 2020 R&D Ratios & Budgets. These 25 companies include pharmaceutical (10 companies), automotive (6 companies), and ICT (9 companies) that invested a cumulative total of nearly 260 billion dollars in R&D in 2019, or approximately 10% of all the R&D spent in the world by government, industries, and academia combined, according to R&D World’s 2021 Global R&D Funding Forecast. The stock prices used in the R&D World Index are tabulated from NASDAQ, NYSE, and OTC common stock prices for the companies selected at the close of stock trading business on the Friday preceding the online publication of the R&D World Index