Nintendo Is Likely to Suffer Global Switch Shortages From Virus
Nintendo Co. is likely to struggle to supply sufficient Switch consoles to its U.S. and European markets as soon as April due to a production bottleneck caused by the coronavirus outbreak, according to people with knowledge of the company's supply chain.
Limited component supply coming out of China is affecting output at a Nintendo assembly partner's factory in Vietnam, which the gaming giant primarily uses to build consoles for the U.S., said the people, asking not to be named because the details are private. A shortage of components this month would affect Switch units scheduled for arrival in April, after existing inventory and current shipments of the console have sold through.
Switch shipments arriving into the U.S. in February and March won't pose any issue because they've already been dispatched from Asia, said the people familiar with Nintendo's operations. But difficulty may arise with accumulating enough units for the boats departing later this month or next, which would be arriving in the U.S. in April. Shipments would not completely stop, but would be greatly reduced, according to one person.