- One of Nintendo's primary chipmakers, Macronix, is quitting the ROM business.
- According to analyst David Gibson, ROM accounted for just 5% of Macronix's Q3 revenue, down from 26% a year earlier.
- Gibson noted that Nintendo's growing digital sales could lead to more Game-Key Card releases on Switch 2.
Macronix, one of Nintendo’s major suppliers of ROM chips used in physical game cards for the original Switch and the Nintendo Switch 2, is phasing out its ROM production business. The Taiwanese memory chipmaker announced that it will no longer develop new ROM products as it shifts its manufacturing capacity to NOR and eMMC memory chips.
According to analyst David Gibson, who reported the news on X on November 4, 2026, Macronix broke the announcement in its Q3 2026 financial report, stating that it’s quitting the Switch business and phasing out the ROM chips used in Switch and Switch 2 Game Cards.
Furthermore, the company revealed ROM accounted for just 5% of Macronix’s total revenue, compared with 26% during the same period last year. Hence, it is shifting to NOR and eMMC memory chips instead, meaning you should expect more Nintendo Switch 2 games to have Game-Key Cards instead of physical cartridges.
However, Gibson notes that Macronix isn’t the only game memory card maker for Nintendo, with Rohm Co. (Oki Semiconductor) still producing them. However, the development points to Nintendo’s gradual shift towards digital distribution, even as the company’s Latin American VP recently reiterated that Nintendo has no plans to abandon physical games.
Nintendo’s upcoming major release, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake, fortunately arrives on a physical cartridge and not a Game-Key Card. So, Nintendo isn’t going all-digital just yet, unlike Sony ending physical PS5 disc production starting in 2028.
Gibson further mentioned that digital sales for Nintendo are slowly increasing, with it accounting for 61.5% of its software sales in April to June 2026, up from 59.3% a year earlier, although the share fluctuates depending on major physical game releases.
That said, do you think Macronix’s exit from the ROM business will lead to more Game-Key Card releases on Nintendo Switch 2? Tell us in the comments below.
