| SKMBlake said: Don't forget that Nintendo intends to have the chip as cheap as possible, the longer they wait for releasing a console with this T239 chip, the cheaper it will be. If the costs won't get lower this year, they'll wait until next year |
It depends for what time period the chip was contracted for, but Nintendo may be on the hook for payments starting even this year if the contract was for Nintendo to start using the chip in 2023 or 2024 (lets say).
They may owe Nvidia royalty fees and/or just full stop payment for the R&D on the chip now or soon. So if they don't have any money coming in for the chip, it's could incur a loss for them. There's also likely contracts for the chip manufacturing and fabs done beforehand so Nintendo likely is on the hook for having booked fab/production lines, they can't just say "well turns out we don't need that" likely without a penalty cost.
Nvidia didn't make the chip for fun as a hobby, its development is likely tied to Nintendo giving them a contracted guarantee of royalty payments per year starting on a certain year on top of probably some lump sum amount for just the development of the chip on top of that.
Think of it more like this ... say you own a successful cafe and now and 1 year ago you signed a lease to expand to a 2nd location and also have already ordered the equipment for the 2nd location (coffee machines, stools, tables, etc.) and all the construction inside is mostly finished too. Well even if you decide for whatever reason you want to delay the opening of the 2nd cafe, you're still on the hook for the monthly rent the 2nd location has, someone has to pay for the all the machines, equipment, and someone has to pay for the construction of the new location too. Just because you say "well, maybe we'd just like to focus on the 1 location for another year" it doesn't mean those other costs vanish.
Last edited by Soundwave - on 08 March 2023
