We investigate the difference between Korean research and development and Taiwan’s research and development. We examine data from the OECD, industry data from Worldscope and the Taiwan Economic Journal, and even include a survey to better understand individual perceptions of Korea and Taiwan. We find that research and development in both countries have a lot of similarities, but the key difference resides in the amount of research and development done by the top companies in each nation. We find that the majority of research and development in Korea is conducted by the top 5 firms in total sales whereas Taiwan’s research and development is more distributed between the top 20 firms in total sales. In addition, we find that Korea’s usage of funds for research and development is more efficient in the electronics industry than Taiwan’s.