Macronix Exit Tightens Switch Cartridge Supply
Losing a main ROM producer could push publishers toward Game-Key Cards, a digital-key format that ships without a cartridge.
Updated on Nov. 4, 2026 in Semiconductors
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Taiwanese memory maker Macronix, a longtime Nintendo hardware partner, is exiting the ROM chip business, which supplies components for Switch and Switch 2 game cartridges. The shift is announced, not yet complete: the company plans to phase out ROM products entirely by the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2026.
Why it matters
ROM products fell from 26 percent of Macronix's business one year earlier to 5 percent in its latest third quarter, a decline the company is tying to the ongoing AI-driven memory and storage shortage. Losing one of the main ROM producers tightens an already constrained supply chain for physical game media.
Macronix's ROM share of revenue fell from 26 percent to 5 percent within a year, a sharp contraction that the company attributes to its shift toward NOR flash and eMMC memory. The company has not disclosed unit volumes, so the scale of the supply gap for cartridges cannot be measured from the available figures.
The players
Macronix
Taiwanese memory chipmaker and longtime Nintendo hardware partner that produces NOR flash, eMMC and ROM memory products.
Nintendo
Japanese console maker whose Switch and Switch 2 consoles rely on ROM chips in their game cartridges.
Rohm Co.
Japanese semiconductor manufacturer that supplies ROM parts to Nintendo through its Oki Semiconductor unit.
Micron
US memory maker that announced it was exiting the consumer memory business and shutting down its Crucial brand.
The details
ROM (read-only memory) chips store game data permanently inside a Switch cartridge, which is why they are central to physical game production. Macronix is moving its manufacturing capacity away from ROM and toward NOR flash, a memory type that can be rewritten and is widely used for code storage, and eMMC, a packaged flash storage format common in portable devices. Nintendo also sources ROM parts from Rohm Co. through Oki Semiconductor, so the exit does not remove the Switch supply chain entirely, but it removes one of its main producers.
Timeline
Micron announced its exit from the consumer memory business and the shutdown of its Crucial brand nearly one year before publication.
Macronix's ROM products represented 26 percent of its business one year before its third-quarter report.
Last month, Nintendo said it has no plans to abandon physical games.
Macronix plans to fully phase out ROM products by the end of the third quarter of fiscal year 2026.
The Tech Race
Macronix's ROM exit follows Micron's announced withdrawal from consumer memory and the shutdown of its Crucial brand nearly one year ago, a sign that memory makers are reallocating capacity toward AI-driven demand. Its shift toward NOR flash and eMMC keeps it competitive in those segments while leaving Rohm Co. as a named alternative source for Nintendo's ROM needs.
If supply tightens, physical Switch and Switch 2 games could become more expensive, and publishers may shift titles to Game-Key Cards, a digital-key format that ships without a cartridge. Nintendo has said it has no plans to drop physical games, and no timeline for any price change or format shift has been announced.
The takeaway
Watch whether Nintendo announces a replacement ROM source or a change to cartridge pricing before Macronix's ROM exit is complete at the end of fiscal 2026. Also track whether other memory makers follow Macronix's exit from ROM, since that would confirm the AI-driven squeeze is reshaping cartridge supply beyond a single company.
Further reading
For the wider context of how memory shortages are reshaping hardware supply, see the Semiconductors section.
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