Switch 3 rumors are starting up, and I’m already tired

Nintendo has spent the last few weeks providing us with a ton of information about the Switch 2, but I’m sad to say that’s old news. The tech-y, business-y types of the world are already looking ahead to the Switch 3, baby. Buckle up.

While sharing his insights on the current strength of Intel Corporation stock, KeyBanc Capital Markets senior research analyst John Vinh shared a small —and I mean brief — tidbit about Intel potentially securing a contract to work on the next Nintendo console.

“We believe [Intel] has won the GPU gaming socket for the Nintendo Switch 3 on 18A,” Vinh said, referring to the company’s much-touted 18A semiconductor manufacturing.

I won’t pretend to understand all the ins and outs of this technology, but Intel put out a short video in January describing the benefits for luddites like me. According to Intel Story Lab director Krista Vasquez, the Intel 18A chipmaking process combines innovative transistors with industry-first architecture to provide “jumps in performance, density, and power efficiency” while “paving the way for continued, future advances.” Sounds impressive, but buzzwords tend to have that effect.

Just when it feels like we got off one speculative rollercoaster, we’ve been ushered into the next one faster than we could say, “Donkey Kong wears pants now.” Let’s all hold hands and trudge silently into the underground bunkers before we’re assaulted by eye-straining YouTube thumbnails and Reddit posts arguing about the latest half-sentence tease from gaming’s cottage industry of “insiders” and rumormongers.

Oh, and if you still care, the Switch 2 launches June 5.