Nintendo Switch Cartridges Lose Key ROM Maker as Macronix Exits

Nintendo Switch cartridges are losing a major chip supplier. Taiwan’s Macronix International, which makes the read-only memory (ROM) chips used in Switch game cards, is gradually phasing out of ROM production, chairman Miin Wu said at the company’s third-quarter earnings call, according to the Taipei Times.

Wu said the move “is not due to slowing demand for NOR flash. Rather, we are allocating capacity to NAND.” Data center customers want more memory, and Macronix would rather build those chips than game card ROMs.

1/4 Nintendo's main memory chip maker is quitting the Switch business
Macronix, which makes the ROM chips in Switch 1 and Switch 2 game memory cards, is phasing out that business. There will be no new ROM products, and Q3 is the last quarter it reports ROM sales separately.

— David Gibson (@gibbogame) November 4, 2026

Why Macronix Is Leaving Nintendo Switch Cartridges Behind

The numbers explain the decision. Macronix posted a record quarterly net profit of NT$10.95 billion (US$337.8 million), up 42% from the second quarter, and its gross margin climbed to 70.5%. “Customers are chasing us for more capacity, demanding that we deliver more NOR flash solutions for data centers,” Wu said.

ROM, meanwhile, fell to 5% of Macronix’s third-quarter sales from 26% a year earlier, according to MST Financial analyst David Gibson. He added that none of the company’s NT$37.8 billion in new capital spending goes to ROM. The new capacity is aimed at eMMC and NAND, where Macronix’s business grew severalfold after Samsung pulled out of eMMC.

It is the same AI-driven squeeze that is pushing up storage costs for phones like the iPhone 18 Pro, now reaching game consoles.

Does This Affect Switch 2 Game Cards?

Reports differ. Gibson says Macronix supplies cards for both the Switch and Switch 2, while Nintendo Everything and Kotaku report that Switch 2 cards come mainly from another supplier, ROHM, which would put most of the impact on the original Switch.

Either way, Gibson does not expect physical games to vanish soon. “Macronix isn’t Nintendo’s only game memory card maker, so physical cards will likely carry on for some time,” he wrote, adding that digital sales and Game-Key Cards, which hold only a download key, will grow at the margin.

Game-Key Cards have already been divisive, as covered in our look at the cartridge controversy around Switch 2 games.

What Nintendo Says

Nintendo told The Verge it has no plans to drop physical games. Physical copies still made up 38.5% of its game sales as of August, a higher share than at companies like Capcom. Digital accounted for 61.5% of Nintendo’s software sales in April to June, up from 59.3% a year earlier, per Gibson.

Nintendo reports its July to September results on Thursday, November 5, which could bring the first comment on its card supply. The original Switch still has a very active community, as the recent Mario Kart World port to Switch 1 shows, so its game cards are not going away overnight.