US — The Verge

Nintendo is losing a Switch cartridge supplier

DevicesNovember 5, 20261 min read

Nintendo is about to lose a major memory supplier for its Switch game cartridges. Macronix, a chip maker, plans to stop making ROM chips and focus on other memory for data centers.

What happened

Macronix said on a recent earnings call (a public update where a company talks about its money results) that it will slowly stop making ROM. ROM is the memory used in game cartridges. Instead, the company will focus on NOR flash memory for data centers, the large computer buildings that run internet services and AI.

Key numbers

Macronix's ROM revenue fell 39 percent compared with last year in Q3 2026.
Its NOR memory revenue rose 158 percent.
Its NAND memory revenue surged 768 percent year over year.
In August, Nintendo said physical games made up 38.5 percent of its game sales.

Why cartridges matter

Switch games come on small cartridges, and those cartridges use ROM chips. Sony plans to stop making physical game discs from January 2028. Nintendo says it has "no plans" to drop physical games. Physical games are still a bigger share of Nintendo's sales than they are for many other game companies.

Why it matters

Macronix is a key supplier, so leaving ROM could make it harder for Nintendo to get cartridge chips. Chip makers are now shifting their work toward AI and data centers, where demand is very high. Micron also shut down its consumer memory brand Crucial about a year ago for the same reason.

What to watch

Whether Nintendo finds another ROM chip supplier for Switch cartridges.
Whether chip prices keep rising, as Macronix expects.
Whether memory shortages change Switch 2 prices or the next PlayStation release.
Whether Nintendo keeps supporting physical games.

Glossary

Macronix: A chip maker that makes memory chips, including ROM and NOR flash.
ROM: A type of memory chip that stores data permanently. Game cartridges use it.
NOR flash memory: A type of memory chip that keeps data when power is off. Used in data centers here.
NAND memory: A type of flash memory used to store large amounts of data, such as in SSDs.
Crucial: Micron's consumer brand that sold RAM and SSDs for home computers.

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