Oppo Closes Chip Design Unit Due To Uncertainty In The Smartphone And Global Market Industry

Illustration of the chip required by a smartphone. (photo: dock. pexels)

JAKARTA - A smartphone manufacturer from China, Oppo, announced that it will close its chip design unit, Zeku, due to uncertainty in the global market and smartphone industry. Oppo, which is one of China's best-selling domestic smartphone brands, said it would stop operations by the Zeku unit established in 2019.

These products produced by units include the MariSilicon X chip which is a neural processing unit (NPU) that improves the quality of images in videos and photography taken with smartphones.

"Due to uncertainty in the global market and smartphone industry, we have to make difficult adjustments for long-term development," a company representative said.

The smartphone market in China, which is the largest market in the world, is still struggling to recover from one of its worst recessions as consumers considering prices are still reluctant to make massive purchases even after the easing of zero-COVID restrictions in the country.

In 2022, smartphone shipments fell 14%, and total unit shipments fell below 300 million for the first time in a decade. In the first quarter, total smartphone shipments fell 11% year-on-year to 67.2 million units, the lowest total quarterly since 2013, according to research firm Canalys. issued a report last month.

Oppo and its competitors in China such as Xiaomi formed an internal chip design unit in an attempt to become independent after the US paralyzed Huawei Technologies smartphone division with sanctions preventing it from obtaining key components.

Oppo is owned by BBK Electronics, which also owns Vivo, another best-selling Chinese smartphone brand.