After the huge earthquake in the Chinese chip industry, the fog of OPPO disbanding a team of 3000 people was dispelled

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OPPO originally had the hope of becoming a leader in domestic chips, like Huawei, leaving a significant mark in the development of domestic chips. With the news of OPPO giving up on self-developed chips and disbanding the 3000 person R&D team, everything came to an end.

There are various opinions in the industry about why OPPO has abandoned self-developed chips, which is not entirely due to what OPPO officials call "global economic uncertainty". After the huge earthquake in the Chinese chip industry, the fog of OPPO disbanding a team of 3000 people was dispelled.

OPPO's self-developed chips can be traced back to 2019, for example, OPPO established its subsidiary, Shoupu Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., which was later renamed Zheku Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.

Zheku has undertaken all chip research and development projects under OPPO, and has been self developing chips for over three years, making some achievements. Launch two chip products for OPPO, including Mariana X and Y.

Not only that, the research and development work of Zheku 4nm chip has also begun. As expected, it is expected to complete the chip casting by the end of this year, and after subsequent testing and verification, it will flow into the commercial market.

As everyone knows, OPPO has announced the abandonment of self-developed chips, and Zheku, a 3000 person research and development team, has also been disbanded. All employees were terminated from their labor contracts, and OPPO's path to self-developed chips came to an end.

The official statement is thatDue to the global economy and the uncertainty in the mobile phone market, the company needs to make strategic adjustments to address the challenges of long-term development

The official statements are often vague, so the outside world does not accept them, which has sparked heated discussions among netizens and can be described as divergent opinions. Some say they are short of money, some are worried about being sanctioned by the United States, and some argue that OPPO has encountered technical difficulties. So what exactly is the situation? From multiple perspectives, the fog of OPPO disbanding the 3000 person team has been dispelled.

Firstly, the 'money shortage theory' can be ruled out.

Self developing chips is certainly a costly task that requires a large amount of capital and human resources. In addition, multiple experiments and optimizations are required to ensure the quality and performance of the chips. Therefore, the research and development cost of self-developed chips is usually very high.

There are rumors that Zheku burned 50 billion yuan in three years, but in fact, public information shows that Zheku only spent less than 10 billion yuan. If Zheku is really short of money, there is no need to go to the step of disbanding the team. It can completely reduce capital expenditure and focus on chip projects that are less expensive, such as power chips and ISP chips.

Moreover, Zheku has announced a compensation plan for layoffs. For a team of 3000 people, the average salary is calculated based on the recruitment information of 45000 yuan, and with the compensation of N+3, the OPPO for layoffs alone will cost over 400 million yuan, or even more.

This money may not be much for chip development, but it can also maintain team operations for a period of time, allowing Zheku to go further. Since OPPO can provide such generous compensation, it indicates that lack of money is not the determining factor for disbanding the team.

Looking at the claim of being sanctioned by the United States again.

At present, OPPO has not been subject to any sanctions from the United States and has been developing well in the chip field. From the perspective of OPPO's self-developed chips, it has not shaken the leading position of the United States in chips, as the two chips launched by OPPO are NPU and audio SOC, which are not the most core and important chip technology.

To put it bluntly, the current OPPO does not have the conditions for the United States to take action. The chips developed by OPPO in the future may not necessarily divide the cake of American chips. Since sanctions have not occurred, is it necessary for OPPO to worry about the future and disband its chip development team? Obviously, it is impossible.

So will OPPO disbanding the team be a technical reason? From the development process of a technology company, it is rare to choose to give up due to encountering technical difficulties. OPPO has been able to produce 6nm chips and has also developed SOC products. A team of 3000 people is a huge force in global chip companies.

These talents are responsible for projects such as baseband, RF, and 5G, dragging OPPO's self-developed chip project forward.

Among these team members, Dr. NhonQuach, who has a personal profile as the Chief SoC Architect of Zheku Technology, announced on an overseas social media platform that he was fortunate enough to be recruited to be responsible for the creation of OPPO's second-generation SOC. NhonQuach stated that the second generation SOC has stunning features and is expected to be launched in 2025, posing significant challenges to competitors.

This chip adopts TSMC's 3nm process. If OPPO really launches the second generation SOC, then OPPO's self-developed chip technology barrier will be more solid. Such research and development strength may not be the result of technology that led to the decision to give up. So there is only one reason left, which is the support of the consumer market.

The two chips launched by OPPO have been used in high-end flagship smartphones, but they have not received much response in the consumer market. Sales have not met expectations, and if OPPO's self-developed chips continue to sustain themselves, they will only face a situation where they cannot make ends meet.

The purpose of OPPO's chip development is actually to make money. If it doesn't make money, it will only stop losses in a timely manner.

After seeing the outcome of OPPO's self-developed chip, I realized how difficult Huawei's persistence is. Although Hisense Semiconductor cannot bring profits to Huawei, Huawei still maintains this team. The success of domestic chips cannot be separated from the support of the consumer market, allowing domestic chips to usher in true dawn.

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