OPPO Tapes Out Self-Developed Mobile Chip with TSMC's 4nm Process and MediaTek 5G Baseband Plug-in

According to industry sources, OPPO has officially taped out its self-developed smartphone application processor (AP) using TSMC's 4nm process, coupled with an external MediaTek 5G baseband chip. The mass production of this chip is expected to begin by the end of 2023 and launch in 2024.

Self-developed chips are becoming increasingly important in the saturated smartphone market. OPPO CEO Chen Mingyong emphasized that a good chip is necessary for a technology company to understand the user experience. OPPO established Zheku Technology (Shanghai) in 2019, investing ¥50 billion in the development of self-developed chips as a part of its ecological research and development strategy. The company has a team of 2,000 people dedicated to R&D.

The development of smartphone SoCs and communication baseband chips is an unavoidable hurdle. While OPPO has invested significantly in communication technology R&D and patents, it still lags behind industry leaders such as Huawei and Qualcomm. OPPO's technology accumulation may not be enough to successfully develop self-developed 5G baseband chips, so the company may need to partner with existing 5G baseband technology manufacturers for technology authorization. In terms of 5G baseband chip manufacturers, OPPO can only choose from Qualcomm, MediaTek, Unisoc, and Samsung. MediaTek's 5G baseband chip has higher cost performance, making it a possible choice for OPPO.