Oppo stops developing custom chips for their flagship phones
It has been reported in the South China Morning Post that Chinese phone maker Oppo has shut down its Zeku chip development division and given up its internal System-on-Chip (SoC) design ambitions.
The news comes as worldwide smartphone sales continue to decline and chip export restrictions remain in place in the US.
A Bloomberg report indicates that Oppo’s Zeku division was established in 2019 and has about 200 patents in its Shanghai division, according to the report. In the same way as Apple, Oppo began building its own co-processors for imaging and other smartphone components but had not yet succeeded in launching its own SoC to eliminate the need to rely on other companies.
In addition to the Oppo Find N2 Flip, Oppo’s Find X6 Pro is fueled by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, while the Oppo Find N2 Flip uses MediaTek’s Dimensity 9000 Plus chipset.
Due to the Ukraine war, the US issued sweeping restrictions on chip sales to China and other countries. Chinese phone manufacturers, including Oppo, would be required to get licenses to use US-made chips.
As reported by the media in January, the US agreed to further restrict exports of chip manufacturing technology to the Netherlands and Japan. This move could cut off Chinese companies from lithography machines needed for the development of newer chips, such as those made by ASML, the only lithography machine manufacturer in the world.
There are many components that are shared by Oppo and OnePlus, which are sister companies. By using unique in-house chips like those used by Apple and Google with their A-Series and Tensor chips, both companies could have expanded their future products’ capabilities.
