[THE INVESTOR] LG Electronics said on April 3 it spent more than 4 trillion won (US$3.79 billion) on research and development projects last year, a record high for the company.

The Korean tech giant said in a regulatory filing it spent 4.03 trillion won on research and development projects in 2017, up 150 billion won, or 4 percent, from a year earlier.

The increase apparently came as LG focused on developing artificial intelligence, robots and auto part technologies, which are considered future growth engines for the company.

“We plan to foster innovation to speed up growth and prepare better for the future in the fields of AI, robots, auto parts and extra premium products,” a representative of LG said.

By Song Seung-hyun and newswires (ssh@heraldcorp.com)