This past week, some of the world’s biggest R&D players doubled down on growth—Johnson & Johnson pledged $55B in U.S. investments, and AstraZeneca announced a new global R&D center in China — while others tightened their belts. Audi and Siemens both revealed significant job cuts, underscoring the shifting priorities in a fast-paced market primed for new innovations and strategic pivots.
Overall, the R&D World Index (RDWI) for the week ending March 21, 2025 was a bit up. It closed at 3,970.87 for the 25 companies in the RDWI. The Index was up 0.48% (or 18.97 basis points). Fifteen RDWI members gained value last week from 0.46% (Alphabet/Google) to 3.49% (Bristol-Myers Squibb). Ten RDWI members lost value the previous week from -0.33% (Cisco) to -4.22% (Alibaba).
Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals
[Image courtesy of Johnson & Johnson]
1. Johnson & Johnson announces $55B U.S. investment
RDW Index member Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, New Jersey, announced last week that more than $55 billion in manufacturing, R&D, and technology investments will be made in the U.S. over the next four years. This represents a 25% increase in investment compared to the previous four years. The company credits the increase to the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The company also announced last week that it had broken ground on a 500,000-square-foot biologics manufacturing facility in Wilson, North Carolina.
2. AstraZeneca establishes new global R&D center in China
RDW Index member AstraZeneca, Cambridge, United Kingdom, announced last week that it will invest $2.5 billion in Beijing, China, to establish its sixth global strategic R&D center with significant research and manufacturing agreements. This investment over the next five years is part of a strategic partnership with the Beijing Municipal Government and the Beijing-Technological Development Area and includes agreements with three biotech companies: Harbour BioMed, Syneron Bio, and BioKangtai. The company expects its Beijing workforce headcount to increase to 1,700. This is the second R&D center in China, following the opening of its Shanghai R&D center. An artificial intelligence (AI) and data science laboratory will support the Beijing facility. It will be located in the Beijing International Pharmaceutical Innovation Park, near leading biotech companies and research hospitals. Its joint venture with BioKangtai will focus on developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative vaccines for respiratory and other infectious diseases in Chinese patients.
Technology & Electronics
3. Elsevier launches AI tool for researchers
Science publisher Elsevier, Amsterdam, Netherlands, announced last week that it has launched a new AI tool to help researchers extract, summarize, and compare information from millions of peer-reviewed papers and book chapters to speed up their R&D. The company’s ScienceDirect AI works much like other AI services with the user typing in a question and receiving an answer from a chatbot. The answer includes references that link directly back to the source material, providing similar functionality to the Deep Research subscription available through ChatGPT developer OpenAI, San Francisco, California.
The Google Bay View Campus
4. Alphabet in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz
Google parent Alphabet, Mountain View, California, is in advanced talks to acquire cybersecurity startup Wiz, New York City, for about $30 billion. The deal would be Google’s largest ever and is likely to be finalized soon, barring any last-minute snags. Wiz offers cybersecurity software for cloud computing and partners with Amazon.com, Microsoft, and Google.
5. SoftBank strengthens AI capabilities with Ampere acquisition
Japanese multinational investment holding company SoftBank, Tokyo, announced last week that it signed a deal to purchase Ampere Computing Holdings, Santa Clara, California, for $6.3 billion, which is expected to strengthen SoftBank’s AI capabilities. Ampere has about 1,000 chip engineers with expertise in developing AI chips. These are expected to complement the design strengths of Softbank’s Arm Holdings group. The acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, and when it is closed, Ampere will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank.
6. Nvidia CEO sees 100x increase in AI computing requirements
NVIDIA reveals next-gen architecture
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang commented last week at a technical conference on AI that the world will need 100 times as much computing power for advanced AI than it considered necessary a year ago. AI expansions into models that can “reason” and act as agents to perform tasks for humans will require far greater computing power than most analysts expected. Huang commented that most people over the past year got it wrong with reasoning models found to spend more time thinking about a problem before delivering an answer. In his keynote, he gave an example where a traditional large language model advised on a seating arrangement. In contrast, a reasoning model used over 100 more computing to tackle the same query while delivering a more satisfactory answer.
Huang also teased the eventual release of the Vera Rubin in 2026 and Rubin Ultra in 2027, the latter of which is projected to deliver 15 exaflops of AI computing. The Vera Rubin architecture would represent a complete overhaul of the Blackwell architecture. “Basically, everything is brand new except for the chassis,” Huang said.
Automotive & Manufacturing
7. Toyota establishes first R&D center in India
RDW Index member Toyota, Tokyo, Japan, announced last week that it is setting up its first R&D center in India. The workforce is expected to expand to more than 1,000 engineers by 2027. This will be the company’s third R&D center in the Asia-Pacific region outside of Japan. The center could evolve into a global R&D hub, mirroring Mercedes-Benz’s Bengaluru facility.
[Image courtesy of Audi]
8. Audi announces significant job cuts
Automaker Audi, Ingolstadt, Germany, announced last week that it will eliminate 7,500 jobs by 2029. Audi Group is a division of RDW Index member Volkswagen, Wolfsburg, Germany. The company employs more than 87,000 people globally, with 54,000 in Germany. Staff reductions are expected to reduce its annual operating expenses by about $1.1 billion. Audi Group invests more than $4.5 billion annually in R&D.
9. Siemens cuts jobs in automation and EV charging divisions
Siemens, Munich, Germany, announced last week that it will cut more than 6,000 jobs in its automation and electric vehicle (EV) charging businesses as part of its plans to boost competitiveness. The conglomerate employs 312,000 people globally, with 86,000 based in Germany and over 40,000 working in R&D areas. The company invests about $6.1 billion annually in R&D. The currently announced staffing cuts are mainly in the EV area, which faces intense price pressures and limited growth potential for low-power charging stations.
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 spending 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.