The Nintendo Switch 2 may be on the verge of another price hike as Samsung has raised 8nm chip production cost by 10%.
According to a report from Reuters, Samsung Electronics has increased prices for several of its advanced contract chipmaking services amid surging demand for AI chips. While prices for some newer processes have increased by as much as 15%, wafers produced using Samsung’s older 8nm technology have risen by nearly 10%. This suggests that another Nintendo Switch 2 price hike may be on the cards, as the console’s Nvidia Tegra T239 SoC is manufactured using the chipmaker’s 8nm process.
Samsung’s foundry business has benefited from the semiconductor industry’s capacity crunch, particularly as demand for AI and high-performance computing chips continues to grow. Reuters reports that TSMC’s leading-edge capacity is increasingly booked, giving Samsung more leverage to raise prices as customers look for alternative manufacturing capacity.
Should the higher 8nm wafer prices remain in place when Nintendo’s chip-production contracts are renewed or renegotiated, the console maker may opt to absorb the additional cost, negotiate different terms with Samsung, or ultimately pass some of the increase on to consumers in the form of a price hike. That said, there is no guarantee that a roughly 10% increase in wafer pricing would translate into anything close to a 10% increase in the retail price of the Switch 2. The T239 SoC is only one component of the console, and Nintendo’s overall manufacturing costs include memory, storage, display components, controllers, packaging and other hardware.
In May, Nintendo announced the first price hike for the Nintendo Switch 2, citing changing market conditions and the global business outlook. In Japan, the Switch 2 Japanese Language System increased from ¥49,980 to ¥59,980 beginning May 25, 2026. The company will also increase the console’s price in several major regions starting September 1, 2026. In the United States, it will move from $449.99 to $499.99. Canada will see the price increase from $629.99 to $679.99, while the European price on My Nintendo Store will rise from €469.99 to €499.99.
