The Nintendo Switch 3 will be powered by a custom Nvidia chip — built not in Taiwan but in the US on Intel’s bleeding-edge 18A process node.

KeyBlanc analyst John Vinh claimed Intel has “won the GPU gaming socket for the Nintendo Switch 3 on 18A.” If true, tens of millions of SoCs are coming off Intel’s lines — a much-needed win for the troubled fab giant that’s been scrambling to catch up with TSMC.

According to Vinh, “Intel 18A is on track to ramp Panther Lake in 2H25 with KPIs including yields and defect densities trending in the right direction and are at acceptable levels.”

That means the node might be usable — something Intel’s previous process woes left investors doubting.

It’s a double coup for Intel. Not only does it claw some relevance back in the gaming space, but it’s now back in bed with Nvidia — the firm whose GPUs have eaten Intel’s lunch in everything from data centres to laptops.

Nintendo has yet to launch the Switch 2, but we’re already peeking into the guts of its successor. Vinh’s note suggests this isn’t just idle speculation—and while Nvidia is developing the chip, Intel will build it—on US soil, no less.

That's far from Chipzilla's recent bruisings, but it must keep yields and execution tight. The ghosts of 10nm delays still hover.