It's important to understand that there's a difference between "R&D" as it lives in most people's minds here, and "R&D" as it presents in financial reporting. The former is associated with hiring PhD's and building labs. The latter is everything not covered by cost of sales. Different companies balance the buckets in different ways at different times. And there are many activities that fall under the latter that most would not associate with the former. Companies that make staples report R&D on their financials too. And companies that fund AI also do a lot of R&D that looks the R&D that goes into making staples.
dredmorbius|6 years ago