Nintendo hired Samsung to build the main chip for Switch 2, including an 8-nanometer processor customized by Nvidia, Bloomberg Report. This will mark Nintendo's move away from TSMC from TSMC, which built the chipset for the original 2017 Switch. Nintendo did not comment, saying it did not disclose its suppliers. Samsung and Nvidia also declined to discuss the matter.
Samsung has previously provided flash memory and displays to Nintendo, but building the Switch 2 processor would be a rare win for the company's contract chip division. Samsung can report that enough chips can be built so that by March 2026, Nintendo can ship 20 million or more to convert 2s.
NVIDIA's new chipset is reportedly optimized for Samsung's products, not the manufacturing process of TSMC. Using Samsung also means Nintendo won't compete with Apple and others for TSMC's resources. On Nintendo's latest earnings call, President Shuntaro Furukawa said the company's new console would not expect any component shortage, which is the issue that plagued the original Switch.
Nintendo said in the same earnings report that there were 2.2 million Switch reservation applications in Japan alone, and it was attracted by 2.2 million applications. Still, the company expects sales of 15 million units in the first year of sales to March 2026, less than analysts predicted sales of 16.8 million units, which is likely due to Trump's tariffs.
