Industry-wide component shortage forces Nintendo to battle other tech companies to secure Switch parts

- Nintendo has told suppliers and assemblers it hopes to make nearly 20 million Switch units by the end of this fiscal year
- there's an industry-wide capacity shortage for components used in smartphones, computer servers and other tech
- this includes NAND flash-memory chips that store data, liquid-crystal displays and the motors that enable HD Rumble
- rapid expansion of web-based services for corporations has driven demand for computer servers that use flash memor
- continued demand for Apple’s iPhone line will also put a strain on components
- makers of data-center servers tend to use newer and higher-margin components
- smartphone makers issue larger orders
- this makes it hard for Nintendo to secure components they need
- if Nintendo increased spending significantly to secure more parts, that could risk driving the Switch’s production cost up
- Nintendo may again consider air cargo shipping toward the end of the year, some sources said