Chinese telecom equipment and smartphone maker ZTE Corp said on Wednesday that it had invested $1.4 billion in research and development this year.

In a press release sent to China Daily, ZTE said it spends 10 percent of its sales every year on R&D and has invested a total of 30 billion yuan ($4.92 billion) on R&D over the past four years.

In 2012, when ZTE experienced a business setback and posted a 2.8 billion yuan loss in net profit, the company still upped its R&D spending. Currently, ZTE has applied for more than 50,000 patents globally and has been granted 14,000 patents.

ZTE said this month that it would post a net profit for 2013, swinging from a loss in the previous year as its focus on cost-cutting and high-margin contracts pays off.

ZTE said its net profit for the first nine months totaled 551.6 million yuan, in line with the lower end of its expectations.