Oppo reveals its first chip designed by in-house team

Chinese smartphone maker Oppo revealed the first chipset designed by its in-house team. With the announcement, Oppo has joined the likes of Apple, Xiaomi, and Huawei, who are in a race to reduce their dependencies in third-party chip designers. 

Oppo named the chip MariSilicon X, which will used machine learning to enhance the image and videos. The new chip will be manufactured by using Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co(TSMC)’s 6 nanometer process technology and will be available in the Oppo’s upcoming flagship phone in the first quarter of 2022, TechCrunch reported. 

Two global powerhouse U.S. and China have made chip design and development a matter of national priority. China is pushing hard with billions of dollars in investment to make it self reliant to meet the local chip demand. The barring of Huwaei from using chips using American technology has further pushed the company to aggressively pursue its goal of being as competitive as USA in the chip industry. 

US once controlled 37 percent market share in the global chip industry but that share has shrinked to 12 percent, New York Times reported. US to regain its foot in the semiconductor industry has announced a $52 billion investment, which is yet to be passed from the House.

The global chip shortage due to disruptions in supply chain triggered by the corona virus has forced companies from phone to automobile manufacturers to reduce the number of production unit. Companies, to combat the chip shortage, are teaming up with chip manufacturing companies to design and manufacture custom chips.