It's been discussed ad nauseam how Switch looks poised to be big win for Nintendo, especially relative to the modest success of Wii U before it. What's flown comparatively under the radar is Switch as a win for Nvidia, the chipmaker responsible for graphics hardware inside Nintendo's new device. Nvidia and its stock have been on a substantial upswing in recent years, and according to analysts' latest predictions, Nintendo Switch only encourages that momentum.
The most recent assessment comes from RPC Capital Markets analyst Mitch Steves, who forecasts Nvidia's revenues up by a whopping $300-$400 million in fiscal 2018 due to Switch sales alone. If nothing else this puts in perspective the monstrous totals Nintendo itself will be raking in, but it also allows us to extrapolate what Nvidia earns per Switch unit; if these figures are in the ballpark, then Nvidia's cut is around $50 per Switch. Steves' prediction is predicated on recent reports that Nintendo will double Switch production to 16 million units for this year, up from an original 8 million (this makes logical sense, as Nintendo has stated it will reach 10 million in Switch sales this year, and has already surpassed 2 million since launch).
To put the Nvidia numbers in perspective, Wall Street expects the company to deliver earnings of $0.66 per share on $1.91 billion in revenues during its quarterly earnings call, scheduled for later today. As such, while adding $400 million thanks to Switch is not the bread and butter of the company's existence (the prediction is for the whole year, remember), it is without doubt a substantial number and huge win if true. You may recall reports of Nvidia internal teams being instructed to "get a console win" at all costs after the company was snubbed by both Sony and Microsoft for PS4 and Xbox One respectively. With Switch, it appears to have done just that.
