Is Zeku an oppo subsidiary?

Zeku was founded on 20 19, then named as Head Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., which was a "core-making" subsidiary established by oppo to realize the independent control of mobile phone chips. In July 2020, Shoupu Technology was renamed Zeku, and its product line covers core application processors, short-distance communication, 5GModem, RF, ISP and power management chips.

Zeku's goal is to build a mobile phone soc with high integration, strong performance and low power consumption, so as to enhance the competitiveness of oppo in the high-end market. In order to achieve this goal, Zeku spared no expense to recruit talents and poached a large number of R&D personnel from well-known chip companies such as Qualcomm, Huawei Hisilicon and Ziguang Zhanrui. Zeku has about 3,000 employees, 80% of whom are R&D personnel.

On May 12, 2023, there was market news that oppo decided to close its subsidiary Zheku Technology. Subsequently, oppo responded: Faced with the uncertainty of the global economy and the mobile phone market, the company decided to terminate the Zeku business after careful consideration.

Reasons behind the dissolution of Zeku

1, changes in the market environment

Due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the global chip shortage, the smartphone market is in a downturn and unstable situation. According to the statistics of TechInsights, a third-party research organization, domestic smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2023 were about 62.5 million units, down 13. 1% year-on-year. Even Oppo, which has the highest market share, saw its shipments drop by 8. 1% in the first quarter.

2. The high cost and high risk of self-developed chips.

The cost of the chip is also high. According to reports, the two Mariana chips released by Zeku are based on TSMC's 6nm process, and the cost of TSMC's 6nm process single chip is as high as twice that of the same industry. Moreover, under the situation that the export control of the United States to China is becoming more and more strict, Zeku is also facing great challenges in obtaining advanced manufacturing technology and raw materials.

The above contents refer to Baidu Encyclopedia-Zeku Technology Co., Ltd.