China’s Oppo Exits Chip Design as Smartphone Sector Reels

(Bloomberg) — Oppo, China’s biggest domestic smartphone maker, is closing its chip design business as the global smartphone market extends a prolonged decline.

The Dongguan-based phone maker became one of the first major Chinese tech enterprises to retreat from the chip sector after a wave of investment in past years by electronics players wary of tightening U.S. export curbs. The company is closing the unit, named Zeku, because of uncertainty around the global economy and the mobile industry, a spokesperson said Friday.