It's The End Of The Road For OPPO's MariSilicon Custom Processors

Chinese smartphone maker OPPO is the newest tech company to have fallen victim to the ongoing global economic crisis. Less than two years after the company announced the MariSilicon X chip, its first self-developed chipset, OPPO is reportedly shutting down the entire division behind it. 

According to an SCMP (South China Morning Post) report, the decision to shut down the "Zeku" chip-designing subsidiary was rather abrupt, and came as a shock to most employees — some only receiving less than a day's notice. LinkedIn posts from the company revealed that they were recruiting for new talent as recently as a month ago.

OPPO has confirmed these developments in an emailed statement to Android Authority, and has termed the decision a "difficult adjustment," necessary for "long-term development." The statement also confirms that the move was made in light of ongoing "uncertainties in the global economy and the smartphone industry."

There is no denying that the decision to scrap an entire division behind its self-developed processors is a blow to OPPO's (and China's) long-term goal of reducing their dependence on the U.S. Since the escalation of the trade war with the States, things have gotten extremely difficult for fabless chip design firms based out of China. While most of its operations centered around China, Zeku did have offices in other parts of the world, including the U.S. and Japan.