Nintendo President Warns of Possible Switch Stock Issues in 2021 Due to Semiconductor Shortage
"...in some cases we may not be able to prepare enough for orders."
Nintendo President Shuntaro Furukawa has warned that, while the company has been able to secure materials for the "immediate production of semiconductors" needed for Switch production, shortages may change that later in 2021.
As reported by VGC, Furukawa was speaking to Nikkei about this ongoing global semiconductor shortage that has been causing supply issues for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, graphics cards, and much more.
“We have been able to secure the necessary materials for the immediate production of semiconductors for switches,” Furukawa said. “However, in Japan and other countries, demand has been very strong since the beginning of the year, and there is a possibility of shortages at some retailers in the future.
“It is difficult to say how we will deal with this, but in some cases we may not be able to prepare enough for orders.”
Nintendo has been dealing with Switch shortages for some time, especially due to the growing demand for the console during the COVID-19 pandemic. This was made worse by supply chain problems and a group of resellers that were buying up as many consoles as they could to mark up the price and make a profit.
While Nintendo has yet to confirm its existence, this also brings into question how Nintendo will be able to keep up with producing the current Switch, Switch Lite, and possibly the alleged "Switch Pro," as people have called it, that could reportedly be released in Holiday 2021.
This new Nintendo Switch is said to feature a larger screen and 4K output when docked, and will also include a Nvidia chipset that would bring with it an updated CPU and increased memory.
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Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.