A few months ago, it was reported that OPPO was close to mass production of its first self-developed SoC, a 4nm smartphone processor. However, the latest industry news has changed the scenario, and OPPO seems to be facing difficulties.
This morning, it was reported that OPPO will terminate its ZEKU business, which is responsible for developing mobile SoCs for OPPO smartphones. On this matter, the company said that it has decided to terminate ZEKU’s business after careful consideration due to the uncertainty in the global economy and the cell phone market.
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 core-making subsidiary, Shoupu Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. 2019, and later changed its name to 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. Only Huawei is the brand in the Chinese market that holds the power to manufacture its own mobile phone chipsets.
Sources also reported that OPPO has invested more than $1.4 billion in R&D for thousands of IC designers and developers in China.
