Nintendo, Sony face pressure from rising memory chip prices

Japanese gaming giants Nintendo and Sony are set to report earnings next week amid concerns over rising memory chip prices driven by AI demand.

Nintendo’s Switch 2 remains popular, being the best-selling video game hardware in the US in 2025, despite cost pressures.

Sony’s PlayStation 5, launched five years ago, may have benefited from a cheaper Japanese-language version introduced to compete with Nintendo.

Data from US market tracker Circana supports sustained sales for Nintendo.

Sony plans to spin off its home entertainment division, including the Bravia brand, into a joint venture with China’s TCL Electronics, signaling potential restructuring.

Key reports include Nintendo’s expected 15% profit rise and Sony’s continued demand for popular games despite tariff pressures.

🔗 Source: Bloomberg

🧠 Food for thought

Implications, context, and why it matters.

Console profits can be outlined, yet the per-unit hit stays uncertain with the sources cited

The financial exposure for Nintendo and Sony needs to be pinned down, since the bill of materials (BOM), a product’s component-level cost breakdown, for their newest consoles is not provided in the cited Bloomberg reporting.
For Nintendo, memory modules are projected by TrendForce to make up 21–23% of total hardware costs in 2026 1.
For Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro, memory is described by TechInsights as the biggest cost driver, at an estimated 35% of the total BOM 2.
To model how memory price jumps could affect profits, the exact memory setup needs to be specified, including reports that the Switch 2 uses 12GB of RAM (random access memory), yet that detail is not included in the cited Bloomberg reporting and should be credited to other reporting 3.

The AI memory crunch may drive tougher buying moves, while contract claims need tight sourcing

Procurement and finance leaders at other consumer electronics firms can treat Nintendo and Sony’s situation as a caution on profits when memory costs rise with AI-driven demand 1.
TrendForce reports that memory makers are shifting capacity to server DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM), which tightens supply elsewhere and lifts prices 4.
TrendForce News, citing Hankyung, says Samsung Electronics and SK hynix have reportedly pushed for higher server DRAM prices, plus suppliers are rejecting long-term agreements for quarterly contracts, though this claim focuses on server DRAM rather than consumer devices 5.
Investors may read TrendForce’s view that 2026 capital spending will rise only modestly, with more effort going to process upgrades plus higher-value products such as HBM, as a sign that supplier pricing power could last 6.