- Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has said that the company is monitoring the RAM shortage in the industry
- Furukawa explained that hardware profitability depends on component procurement conditions, cost reductions and the impact of tariffs and exchange rates
- He would not comment on the “hypothetical” price changes of the Switch 2, but confirmed that “There is no immediate impact on earnings, but it is something we will have to monitor closely”
Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa has spoken out about the recent increase in RAM prices and confirmed that the company is closely monitoring the issue.
In an interview with the Kyoto Shimbun (translated via VGC), Furukawa discussed the challenges the company faces with the Nintendo Switch 2’s lower profit margin compared to the original Switch, explaining that the company is keeping an eye on the memory shortage, as well as the ongoing increase in tariffs.
“Hardware profitability depends on factors such as conditions for purchasing components, cost reductions through mass production, and the impact of exchange rates and tariffs,” Furukawa said.
“It’s hard to generalize. Basically, we aim to solve this by promoting the procurement of components in the medium to long term.”
Despite ongoing concerns about a shortage of RAM, primarily caused by the demand for AI data centers, Furukawa confirmed that the situation is not expected to affect the company just yet.
“We are sourcing from suppliers based on our mid- to long-term business plans, but the current memory market is very volatile,” Furukawa said. “There’s no immediate impact on earnings, but it’s something we have to monitor closely.”
The president also declined to comment on whether the Nintendo Switch 2 could be affected on the pricing market, calling it “hypothetical.”
Ahead of the launch of the Switch 2 last year, it was reported that consoles in the US could be hit with a 145% tariff, threatening to make Nintendo’s console even more expensive than it already was at $449.99 / £395.99.
At the time, pre-orders in the US and Canada were affected by delays, but the console managed to achieve a massive launch, selling over 10 million units by the end of 2025.
But when asked about the potential impact of higher tariffs in Japan imposed by the US, Furukawa said Nintendo expected a negative result of several tens of billions of yen as a result of the tariffs, confirming that it saw a similar impact in the first half of the year.
“While it is difficult to accurately measure the future impact, our basic policy is to recognize tariffs as a cost and pass them on to prices as much as possible, not just in the US,” the Nintendo president said.
“On the other hand, this is a crucial period for our games business as we drive the adoption of new hardware and maintain momentum on our platforms. We are working on this while carefully considering the situation.”
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