Mobile Magazine - January 2022 Edition
Stuart Irving
Procurement | Supply Chain | Sustainability | Technology | MBA Candidate | 30k Connections
It’s going to be a big year for Chinese chips??
Oppo, never a company to be outdone by its domestic rivals, is launching its first in-house smartphone SoC this quarter, adding another nail in the coffin of China’s dependence on US chipmakers like Qualcomm and Intel.
Though it’s definitely been galvanised by the global chip shortage, not to mention US sanctions against Chinese firms, change in the global microchip manufacturing sector has long been overdue. Faced with steadily growing demand for their devices and a perennial shortage of chips to power them, smartphone makers are increasingly turning to in-house designs. Last year saw Huawei, Vivo, and Xiaomi (which is still fighting for a successful follow up to its first attempt at a homegrown chip) all make strides towards semiconductor self-sufficiency, and now Oppo is joining the race with the MariSilicon X.?
No matter who wins, Qualcomm (which has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on supplying cheap SoCs to affordable Chinese brands for years) loses.?
This isn’t a fully Chinese trend, of course. Google’s new in-house Tensor chips were a big part of last year’s Pixel 6 launch being as successful as it was. This is shaping up to be the decade where anyone who’s anyone who makes phones also makes the silicon inside them.?
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Enjoy the Issue
Stuart Irving