A new Bloomberg report suggests Nintendo will be able to “build a stockpile of millions of consoles” shipped from Vietnam to the United States ahead of June’s Nintendo Switch 2 launch. That’s based off data provided by global trade data and customs analysis company NBD, which showed Nintendo shipped more consoles from Vietnam in February than it had “in the previous six months combined,” Bloomberg reported.
Nearly all of the output from Hosiden Corp. — one of three Nintendo Switch 2 assembly companies — was sent to the United States beginning in January, per Bloomberg’s data. The jump was from 11% to “two-thirds over the previous 12 months.” That’s good news for Nintendo, which, up until Wednesday, was facing President Trump’s 46% tariff on imports from Vietnam. Those tariffs are on a 90-day hold, save for a universal 10% tariff; that hold may not last forever, but it gives Nintendo time to ship tons of consoles to the United States. Bloomberg said “roughly a third” of Switch 2 consoles are assembled in Vietnam.
Indeed, Nintendo of America president Doug Bowser told CNBC this week that a number of Switch 2 consoles are already in the United States and ready to go.
Nintendo moved some its console production out of China and into Vietnam and Cambodia during the first Trump administration — a move that will protect the company from Trump’s 125% tariffs on Chinese imports. Trump’s announcement of 46% tariffs on items from Vietnam threw Nintendo’s pre-order plan into a frenzy; the day Nintendo announced the console’s price at $449.99, the Trump administration announced tariffs on dozens of countries, including Vietnam. Pre-orders were set to begin April 9, but by April 4, Nintendo had delayed the process indefinitely.
“Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions,” Nintendo said in a statement provided to Polygon. “Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.”
With the tariffs on pause — for now — Nintendo has time to build up its stockpile; Bernstein analyst Robin Zhu told Bloomberg that if tariffs stay at 10%, he doesn’t believe Nintendo will up its price. Nintendo hasn’t yet announced a new date for pre-orders.
