Oppo closes its chip design unit Zeku due to global economic uncertainty; Zeku developed the MariSilicon X image-processing chip used in Oppo's flagship devices
The decision also fits a broader pattern of operational tightening at Oppo, following earlier staff reductions after its OnePlus integration. It matters because bespoke chips require sustained investment across multiple product cycles before they can become a durable handset advantage.
First-order effects
Zeku’s closure removes Oppo’s internal chip-design organization and puts the future development path for MariSilicon-branded imaging silicon in doubt.
Oppo’s flagship-device teams lose a dedicated in-house source of image-processing differentiation and must adjust product road maps around externally supplied components or existing designs.
Second-order effects
The move increases Oppo’s dependence on merchant silicon and component partners for capabilities it had sought to control internally, narrowing its room to differentiate premium phones at the chip level.
Other handset makers pursuing custom silicon gain a clearer example of the fixed-cost and demand-cycle risk involved, potentially strengthening the case for narrower, feature-specific chip programs.
Third-order effects
If similar retrenchment persists, smartphone chip development is likely to remain concentrated among the largest platform vendors and OEMs able to fund long design cycles, rather than becoming a standard handset-maker capability.
The episode underscores a structural split in hardware strategy: custom silicon can create differentiation, but only where device volumes and investment horizons can support it through downturns.
The trend: This is one data point in the smartphone industry’s reassessment of whether vertically integrated silicon programs can withstand volatile device demand.
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Due to the closure of Zeku by Oppo, the joint development of 5G modems with MTK has also been cancelled. Apple has also cancelled some of the orders for A17 Bionic processors (in small quantities) at this time, which is quite rare as orders are usually cancelled around the 4Q
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Early in my analyst business, Zeku once reached out with the potential of a paid internal engagement involving competitive testing. It ended up being a short unpaid call where they tried to extract specific info from me for free and never engaged ever again. https://twitter.com/.…
Oppo, the world's No. 4 handset maker by shipments, dropped a bombshell. It will shut down the inhouse semiconductor division and cease development of own chips, citing a gloomy smartphone market and uncertainties in the global economy. It's that bad. https://asia.nikkei.com/...
The news came as a surprise to Zeku employees, who received less than a day's notice. One employee told the SCMP that workers were told on Thursday not to go into the office the next day. “I can't even go back to the office to get the laptop.” https://www.scmp.com/...
(1/2)OPPO's chip design company ZEKU Technology sent an internal letter stating that the company has made a shareholder decision to dissolve ZEKU Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries and branches, and terminate all labor contracts from May 12, 2023. h…
China's reopening following stringent Covid Zero restrictions has been slow to translate into a rebound in consumer demand so far. Oppo took the worst hit among major brands over the course of 2022, according to IDC data.
Set up in 2019, Zeku was intended to work along similar lines to Apple Inc.'s in-house Silicon division, which develops the main processors in iPhones, iPads and Mac computers. https://www.bloomberg.com/...