OPPO joins the race to develop its own chips for smartphones
Working China’s leading smartphone maker OPPO is developing high-quality mobile chips for its flagship phones in a bid to control core components and reduce its dependence on foreign semiconductor suppliers Qualcomm and MediaTek.
The world’s fourth-largest smartphone maker by shipments plans to use its SoCs in phones scheduled for release in 2023 or 2024, depending on the speed of development.
With this, Oppo joins the race of smartphone makers, including Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi, to develop their own processors. Google unveiled the Pixel 6, its first smartphone to use its Tenor mobile processor.
Developing master chips in-house can enhance supply chain control. It may alleviate shortages and unrest on a large scale.
The company is looking to use the 3-nanometer wafer technology provided by Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Corporation, the world’s largest chip maker.
This makes it part of a second wave of TSMC customers, after Apple and Intel, to use the cutting edge technology.
This is a sign of the Chinese company’s commitment to developing advanced chips that can compete with the world’s best semiconductor developers.
In-house designed processors have become a hallmark of the world’s leading smartphone brands.
Apple started putting its A-series mobile processors into iPhones a decade ago. Huawei, once the world’s largest smartphone maker, made its mark with the Kirin processor.
And that was before a US campaign against the company derailed its consumer electronics business.
OPPO has been ramping up its investments in chips since the US crackdown on Huawei. It has hired top chip developers and AI experts from MediaTek, Qualcomm, and Huawei, and is continuing its recruitment efforts in the United States, Taiwan and Japan.
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OPPO develops its own chipsets for flagship phones
It also runs on its own AI algorithms as well as its own custom image signal processors for phone cameras.
Image signal processors are less difficult to develop than SoCs, which require a combination of central processing, graphic processing, security, and connectivity capabilities, as well as integration to work with a specific operating system.
Most of OPPO’s flagship smartphones use Qualcomm’s advanced Snapdragon chipset.
And the smartphone makers’ race to use their own processors comes with some risks, which are that the chips may not work as reliably as those of authorized suppliers.
For most smartphone makers, owning mobile phone processors brings two main benefits, differentiation and better control of the supply chain.
And if everyone is using Qualcomm chipsets for flagship phones, it is very difficult to claim that you have unique performance and products.
Meanwhile, you have to compete for the allocation of chips and resources with your competitors during the shortage, and you don’t have a direct view of your chip supply chain.
Oppo declined to talk about specific progress in chip development. But she said the company’s core strategy is to make good products. AndAny investment in research and development aimed at enhancing product competitiveness and user experience.
