According to reports, OPPO will terminate ZEKU (Zheku) business. Regarding this decision, the company stated that due to the uncertainty of the global economy and mobile phone market, after careful consideration, the company has decided to terminate Zheku business. OPPO stated that this is a difficult decision, and we will handle the relevant matters properly and continue to do our best to create value for our products.

In 2019, Liu Chang, Vice President of OPPO and Director of the Research Institute, stated that OPPO already had chip level technical capabilities, such as the VOOC flash charging chip being independently developed by OPPO. Liu Chang believes that OPPO must extend its capabilities to the chip field in order to have the ability to communicate with partners and propose requirements. In his view, chip companies are far away from users, but the definition of chips cannot be separated from user needs. OPPO can connect user needs with the capabilities of chip companies, thereby making chip products better meet user needs.http://www.ic-bom.com/

And Zheku Technology was also established in 2019, initially controlled by OPPO Guangdong Mobile Communication Co., Ltd. In October 2020, there was a shareholder change and it was changed to Guangdong Oujia Holdings Co., Ltd., which is also the parent company of OPPO, Yijia, and realme.

Zheku Chip Company covers product lines including core application processors, short range communication, 5G modems, RF, ISP, and power management chips. According to official data from Zheku Technology, it aims to provide top-level chips and system solutions for its flagship phones. Among its employees, nearly 80% graduated from top universities both domestically and internationally with master‘s and doctoral degrees, and nearly 80% had engineers with over 5 years of experience in the chip industry.

The first self-developed chip, Mariana MariSilicon X, released in December 2021, is an imaging NPU based on AI algorithms, AI noise reduction, real-time RAW computing, and other capabilities, providing computational algorithm support for OPPO‘s pursuit of "natural, comfortable, and memory friendly" mobile imaging concepts. The Mariana MariSilicon Y, released in December 2022, is aimed at the new consumer trend of lossless audio quality and personalized listening experience for users. It is a Bluetooth audio SoC chip that better meets the transmission requirements of high-definition streaming media through higher transmission rates and lossless compression rate encoding and decoding technology.http://www.ic-bom.com/

Why did OPPO shut down Zheku in the picture?

For OPPO, there may be three main reasons for closing Zheku.

Firstly, global chip supply is tight. Due to the impact of multiple factors such as the COVID-19 and the US sanctions, the global chip industry chain has suffered from a serious imbalance between supply and demand, which has led to the rise in chip prices, the extension of delivery cycles, and the difficulty in meeting orders. For OPPOs that rely on external suppliers, this undoubtedly increases their costs and risks.

Secondly, self-developed chips have high investment and slow returns. Chips are a high threshold, high investment, and high-risk technology field that requires long-term and continuous investment of human, material, and financial resources in order to achieve breakthroughs and progress. Moreover, even if one successfully develops their own chips, they may not necessarily receive market recognition and acceptance. For a sales oriented mobile phone manufacturer like OPPO, self-developed chips may not be the optimal choice.

Thirdly, the high-end flagship mobile phone market is fiercely competitive. Although OPPO has strong advantages and influence in the mid to low end market, it still faces challenges from strong competitors such as Apple, Huawei, and Samsung in the high-end flagship market. Moreover, in the 5G era, high-end flagship phones not only require excellent chip performance, but also more innovative points and differentiated advantages to attract consumers‘ attention and wallets. Therefore, OPPO may believe that relying solely on the chip solutions provided by the Zheku business is not enough to support the competitiveness of its high-end flagship phones.