Nintendo's biggest ROM chip supplier is bowing out of the business

Macronix, Nintendo’s main supplier of memory chips for physical Switch and Switch 2 game cartridges, says ROM production has reached its end and it will gradually leave the game industry. The change reflects intense demand for other memory products, including NOR and NAND chips and eMMCs, which are more profitable uses of the company’s limited manufacturing capacity. ROM production has fallen 39 percent over the past year and now accounts for only 5 percent of Macronix’s business. The company’s capacity is about 25,000 12-inch wafers per month, while planned expansion will take at least a year to come online.

Nintendo has said it does not plan to abandon physical games, but losing its main chip supplier means it will need to depend more on remaining suppliers such as Rohm and Lapis Semiconductor. That could raise cartridge production costs and, in turn, the prices publishers charge for physical editions. Nintendo already charges more for some physical games than their digital equivalents, while smaller cartridge capacities have helped make some releases affordable. Digital software made up 61.5 percent of Nintendo’s business in the second quarter of 2026; if that share keeps growing, weaker cartridge demand could eventually offset higher production costs.