Smartphone maker OPPO has shut down its chip design subsidiary called Zeku, as the semiconductor market goes through a heavy slump, the media reported on Friday.
According to the South China Morning Post, OPPO announced the move in a brief statement, calling it a “difficult decision” and blaming “uncertainties in the global economy and smartphone market”.
Zeku employees received less than a day’s notice about the unit being shut down, the report claimed.
The global technology brand set up Zeku in 2019 to design chips that could be used in its devices.
Other smartphone makers, including Xiaomi, have also set up their own chip-design verticals. The move came as chip manufacturing has been severely affected in China by escalating US export restrictions targeting advanced semiconductors.
