A few months ago, reports surfaced that OPPO was about to mass-produce its first self-developed SoC, a 4nm smartphone processor. However, the latest industry news indicates that this plan has encountered changes, and OPPO seems to be facing difficulties.
This morning, reports claim that OPPO will terminate its ZEKU business, which is responsible for developing mobile SoCs for smartphones. In response, the company stated that, given the uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone market, it has decided to discontinue the ZEKU business after careful consideration.
The company further said, “This is a difficult decision. We will handle the matter appropriately and continue to make good products and create value.”
In 2019, OPPO established a chip manufacturing subsidiary, Shuopu Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., which was renamed Zeku in July 2020. ZEKU covered the following product lines: Core application processors, short-range communication, 5G Modem, radio frequency, ISP, and power management chips.
After Xiaomi, OPPO is another brand that gave up on manufacturing its self-developed chips. In the domestic market, only Huawei still has the capability to produce its own mobile phone chipsets.
Sources also revealed that OPPO has invested over $1.4 billion in research and development in China, employing thousands of integrated circuit designers and developers.