Nintendo’s Physical Game Cards Officially Under Threat as Supplier Exits ROM Business
The Taiwanese chipmaker is shifting capacity to NOR flash and NAND after ROM sales fell 39% and accounted for just 5% of quarterly revenue.
- On October 27, Macronix announced it is phasing out ROM production for Nintendo Switch cartridges, a move shared during the company's third-quarter earnings call.
- With ROM sales falling to 5 percent of business from 26 percent one year ago, Macronix CEO Miin stated the company is reallocating capacity to "more NOR flash solutions for data centers" and NAND.
- Nintendo Switch cartridges will seemingly be unaffected as they use NAND flash memory provided by ROHM Semiconductor, and Macronix is not the only ROM chip manufacturer.
- Digital Nintendo Switch sales now comprise "61.5 percent of Nintendo's software sales," yet Nintendo stated just last month it has no plans to ditch physical games.
- Macronix reported a "record-high" net profit of roughly $337 million for Q3 2026, positioning the company to expand "allocating capacity to NAND, a high-growth segment" for long-term growth.
25 Articles
25 Articles
Nintendo is losing a Switch cartridge supplier
Nintendo is about to lose a major memory supplier for its Switch cartridges. The supplier, Macronix, announced during a recent quarterly earnings call that it would be gradually phasing out ROM production and is instead focusing on NOR flash memory for data centers, Taipei Times reports. Macronix's ROM revenue fell 39 percent compared to last […]
Nintendo’s Physical Game Cards Officially Under Threat as Supplier Exits ROM Business
Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer Macronix is gradually winding down its ROM production business, putting an established supplier of Nintendo Switch game card memory on its way out. The company confirmed the decision during its October earnings briefing, with analyst David Gibson providing further details on November 4. Macronix will no longer develop new ROM products, and […] This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
Your main cartridge supplier gets off the boat
One of Nintendo's Switch and Switch 2 cartridge manufacturers is exiting the business, which could make physical games more expensive and result in even more controversial Game-Key Cards
Macronix, longtime Nintendo hardware partner and one of the main producers of ROM memory, has announced it's leaving the business. ROM chips are key components in Switch and Switch 2 cartridges.
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