Macronix is leaving the ROM chip business that Switch 2 cartridges rely on
Macronix plans to phase out ROM chips, a key part of Switch and Switch 2 cartridges. That could raise cartridge costs or push more Game-Key Cards.
Macronix, one of Nintendo's long-time suppliers of the ROM memory inside Switch and Switch 2 cartridges, is quitting that business. Eurogamer reported on November 4, 2026 that the company revealed the plan on its latest earnings call and expects ROM products to be gone by the end of the third quarter of its 2026 fiscal year.
Why Macronix is walking away
ROM has shrunk to a small corner of the company. It made up about 5 percent of Macronix sales in the latest quarter, down from 26 percent a year earlier. The freed-up factory capacity will move to NOR flash and eMMC storage chips, where demand is stronger. Industry analyst David Gibson flagged the change on X.
The timing lines up with the wider memory crunch driven by AI data centres, which has already pushed up console and graphics card prices and led Micron to close its Crucial consumer brand about a year ago.
What it could mean for Switch 2 games
Nintendo is not left without a supplier. It also buys ROM from Rohm, which owns Oki Semiconductor. Losing a major source still puts pressure on an already tight supply, and that could make cartridges more expensive to produce. Gibson suggested more publishers, Nintendo included, may lean on Game-Key Cards, which ship in a case but hold only a download key rather than the full game.
Nintendo said last month it has no plans to give up physical games, even after Sony announced it will stop making discs in 2028. For collectors and anyone who trades in used games, the question now is whether full cartridges become rarer or pricier over the next year.
Source: Eurogamer, citing Macronix's earnings call and analyst David Gibson.
