China’s Oppo to shut down chip design unit as smartphone sales slump

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo said it will shut down its chip design unit, citing uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry.

The company, one of China’s best-selling domestic smartphone brands, said it will cease operations of its Zeku unit, which it set up in 2019. Its products include the MariSilicon X chip, which is a neural processing unit (NPU) that improves images for video and photography taken on smartphones.

“Due to the uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry, we have to make difficult adjustments for long-term development,” a company representative said.