From Ars Technica · · 1m 10s
Nintendo's chip supplier exits ROM production
Macronix, Nintendo's main ROM chip maker, is abandoning game cartridge production as AI demand for memory chips makes the business too unprofitable.
In brief
Macronix, Nintendo's main ROM chip maker, is abandoning game cartridge production as AI demand for memory chips makes the business too unprofitable. Macronix, Nintendo's main ROM chip supplier, is exiting game cartridge production, forcing Nintendo to find alternative suppliers and potentially raising physical game…
Macronix exits ROM chip business
Chip manufacturer Macronix announced it will gradually decouple from the game industry, ending production of ROM chips that power Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 cartridges.
“has reached its end”
AI demand squeezes game chip supply
Macronix's ROM production has shrunk thirty-nine percent in the last year and now represents just five percent of the company's business, crowded out by more lucrative memory chips.
Nintendo faces higher cartridge costs
Nintendo will rely on suppliers like Rohm and Lapis Semiconductor for ROM chips, potentially raising production costs and prices for physical Switch cartridges sold to consumers.
Digital sales may offset the impact
Digital software sales represented sixty-one point five percent of Nintendo's business in the second calendar quarter of twenty twenty-six. If that trend continues, lower cartridge demand could balance rising production costs.
Here's the gist
Macronix, Nintendo's main ROM chip supplier, is exiting game cartridge production, forcing Nintendo to find alternative suppliers and potentially raising physical game prices.
