[News] Xiaomi, OPPO Invest in MicroPowerChip as China’s Smartphone Makers Expand In-House Power Chip Footprint

China’s smartphone makers have been actively expanding their presence in power management chips. According to EE Times China, Guangdong MicroPowerChip has completed a business registration change that adds the Beijing Xiaomi Smart Manufacturing Equity Investment Fund and OPPO Guangdong Mobile Communications Co., Ltd. as new shareholders, marking a strategic endorsement of the four-year-old startup by two of China’s leading smartphone makers.

Founded in 2021, MicroPowerChip is headquartered in Songshan Lake, Dongguan, Guangdong Province, with branch offices in Shanghai, Beijing, and Singapore. The company focuses on the research, development, and sales of battery management chips, aiming to achieve full domestic substitution in the segment.

The report says smartphone makers are increasingly developing their own power management chips for two key reasons: product differentiation and supply chain security. In-house power management chips enable more precise power management, lower power consumption, and faster charging. Analysts cited by the report further note that, given the technical complexity and investment required, companies typically begin with power management and imaging chips before moving on to develop main SoCs.

Xiaomi and OPPO’s joint investment in MicroPowerChip also reflects a broader shift from developing chips solely for in-house use toward a more open investment-and-collaboration model in the power management chip segment, the report says. By investing in specialized chip design companies, smartphone makers can strengthen their technical capabilities while maintaining a more flexible and diversified supply chain.

Chinese Smartphone Makers Expand In-House Power Chip Development

The move comes as Chinese smartphone makers have spent years expanding their in-house power chip portfolios. The report notes that major smartphone makers have introduced their own power management and fast-charging chips—including Huawei’s HiSilicon, Xiaomi’s Surge, OPPO’s SUPERVOOC, and HONOR’s HONOR E1—in an effort to build a technological moat around battery life, a core aspect of the user experience. Huawei was the first major Chinese smartphone maker to pioneer in-house chip development, with its semiconductor arm HiSilicon developing its own PMICs (power management integrated circuits) as early as the Kirin chip era, the report notes.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi’s chip development efforts have been expanding beyond PMICs. According to Mydrivers, sources say the Xiaomi Pad 8S Pro may be equipped with the company’s latest self-developed 3nm XRING O3 processor. XRING O3 is said to be built on TSMC’s 3nm. The report further notes that the XRING O3 is reportedly just one of several self-developed chips Xiaomi plans to launch this year. The company’s chip development team is also developing dedicated in-house automotive chips for its smart vehicle business.

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(Photo credit: Xiaomi)