OPPO increases investment in semiconductor technology industry equity fund

After years of competition, the global smartphone market has gradually formed a situation dominated by brands such as Samsung, Apple, Huawei, Xiaomi, and OPPO, which occupy most of the market share. Faced with a new round of competition caused by the 5G era, many domestic mobile phone brands have also expressed their intention to launch an impact on the high-end market and continue to consolidate and strengthen their position in the global market. For example, Lei Jun has previously officially clarified that Xiaomi, as the main brand, will focus on the high-end route in the future, and OPPO founder and CEO Chen Mingyong also stated in his New Year's speech that this year he will take the launch of the OPPO Find X3 flagship product as an opportunity to break through the high-end market.

(New Year's speech by OPPO founder and CEO Chen Mingyong)

If a mobile phone brand wants to achieve success in the high-end market, in addition to improving the overall strength of its own products, chip research and development is also particularly important. Because currently only TSMC and Samsung have 5nm chip manufacturing process technology, and the production capacity is relatively limited. At the same time, with the arrival of the 5G mobile phone replacement wave, the demand for the chip industry by consumer electronics manufacturers has also increased sharply. Therefore, if a mobile phone brand does not have the ability to develop chips, it will easily be stuck and can only wait for supply from semiconductor companies.

According to information from Tianyancha, OPPO seems to have made new moves in chip research and development. Recently, Kunqiao (Shenzhen) Semiconductor Technology Industry Equity Investment Fund Partnership (Limited Partnership) has undergone industrial and commercial changes, including the addition of several shareholders including OPPO Guangdong Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. At the same time, the company's registered capital has increased from 1.468 billion yuan to 1.68 billion yuan, an increase of 14.44%. This makes us wonder whether OPPO's move is to pave the way for independent research and development of chips.

(OPPO's affiliated company invested in Kunqiao (Shenzhen) Semiconductor Technology Industry Equity Investment Fund)

What's more, LetsGoDigital reported earlier that the "OPPO M1" trademark has been approved by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), and the trademark description also proves that this is a chip that can be used in smart products. So if OPPO's affiliated companies invested in Kunqiao (Shenzhen) Semiconductor Technology Industry Equity Investment Fund really to invest in chip research and development, it is not surprising.

(According to LetsGoDigital, the "OPPO M1" trademark has been approved by the European Union Intellectual Property Office)

OPPO is also fully capable of doing so. As of December 31, 2020, OPPO's global patent applications have exceeded 57,000, and the number of global authorizations has exceeded 24,000. In the 2019 International Patent Treaty (PCT) application rankings released by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), OPPO ranked fifth in the world. In addition, at the OPPO Future Technology Conference in 2019, OPPO also stated that it will invest 50 billion yuan in technology research and development in the next three years, which shows how much OPPO values ​​research and development and how strong it is.

(At the 2019 Future Technology Conference, OPPO stated that it will invest 50 billion yuan in technology research and development in the next three years)

In general, even though entering the high-end market is not an easy task, we can still see that leading mobile phone manufacturers such as OPPO are working hard for it. Moreover, from the OPPO Find X2 series of mobile phones launched by OPPO last year and its advantages in patented technology, it is not difficult to see that OPPO actually has enough strength to impact the high-end, not to mention that OPPO may also bring us surprises in chip research and development. Therefore, OPPO’s future development can be said to be worthy of our attention, so let’s wait and see.