Definition
R&D intensity
Research and development expense as a share of revenue — how much of each sales dollar the company reinvests in building what it will sell next. It is expensed as incurred under GAAP, so a heavy research year depresses today's operating margin to fund products that arrive in later ones.
R&D intensity = R&D expense ÷ Revenue
- Product cycle
- spend concentrates ahead of platform transitions and new architectures.
- Competitive clock
- in winner-take-most markets, underspending rivals is the more expensive mistake.
- Revenue scale
- the same absolute program shrinks as a ratio when the top line grows — operating leverage inside R&D.
Income statement (Consolidated Statements of Operations). 10-K Item 8 — the research and development line among operating expenses; MD&A discusses program direction.
XBRL concepts Echelon grounds to: ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense
- GAAP expenses R&D immediately while capitalizing factories — asset-light research businesses look less invested than they are.
- A falling ratio can mean discipline or harvest — direction alone does not say which.
Educational use only — not investment advice. Figures come from public SEC filings; Echelon teaches you to analyze data, it never recommends buying or selling any security.