© Nintendo LifeLast month, technology giant Samsung expressed concern about the shortage of semiconductors in electronics manufacturing.
With this in mind, Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has now provided Nikkei with an update on the Japanese company’s Switch hardware production – detailing how it has “been able to obtain the necessary materials” to build in the near future. to continue producing semiconductors.
However, in Japan and around the world, there is still the possibility of system shortages at retailers in the future due to continued demand. Here’s the full translation (thanks, VGC):
“We were able to acquire the necessary materials for the immediate production of semiconductors for switches. However, demand in Japan and other countries has been very strong since the beginning of the year, and there is a potential for shortages at some retailers in the future. It is difficult to say how we will handle this, but in some cases we may not be able to prepare sufficiently for orders. “
Furukawa’s latest interview ties in with Bloomberg’s sources last month, suggesting Nintendo would face the same challenges this year as its rivals – a shortage of technology and components:
“In addition to obtaining silicon from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., among others, the Switch maker is also facing a scarcity of more generic parts, such as display driver integrated circuits and Bluetooth modules, according to people familiar with its business.”
Even before the pandemic, Nintendo struggled to stock the system. As of last December, the unit has moved 79.87 million units worldwide. In addition, there are scalpers, which take advantage of the limited stocks.
To top it all off, there have been rumors recently that Nvidia is discontinuing production of the Tegra X1 Mariko (the SoC that powers both Switch) and that Nintendo is releasing a system with a Samsung display.
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