Oppo has recruited different specialists in the development of smartphone chips. The second mobile seller in China could thus build its own SoC, like Huawei, Apple and Samsung.
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Huawei’s situation gives ideas to its competitors. The Nikkei Asian Review reports that Oppo has accelerated its efforts to build its own smartphone chips. The manufacturer, number 2 in sales in China, would have started steps in this direction as early as 2019, at the announcement of the US embargo on Huawei. They are materialized in particular by the recruitment of profiles ad hoc in industry.
A team of experts to accelerate development
According to Nikkei Asian Review, Oppo is said to be putting together a team of expert veterans in Shanghai to speed up the process. It would consist of several poached executives at MediaTek, one of its main suppliers, but also at Unisoc, the second manufacturer of chips in China. In the lot, there would be Jeffery Ju, former managing director of MediaTek, also passed by Xiaomi. Sources in the Japanese media say that one of the executives of the development of the SoC 5G at MediaTek also joined the ranks of Oppo. Employees of Qualcomm and HiSilicon, the Huawei subsidiary, were reportedly contacted by the manufacturer.
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“Realizing last year that owning its own chips would give it more control over the production chain, Oppo was quick to recruit with aggressive offers, says one of the Japanese media sources. Developing chips could, however, create a real hole in Oppo’s budget. And even with a team of experts, it takes years. ” In the latest releases of Oppo smartphones in France, we find the Find X2 series incorporating Qualcomm chips, as well as the Reno which use MediaTek hardware.
Targeting Americanization
Huawei seems to have launched a de-Americanization movement affecting the entire Chinese industry, possibly spurred on by the Chinese government which recently paid $ 2.25 billion in aid to SMIC, the country’s largest chip maker. In the process, Xiaomi is also studying the possibility of joining the phenomenon, having invested in various companies capable of developing such processors.
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