NVIDIA’s Tegra239 SoC Confirmed for Nintendo Switch 2; First Chip Image Emerges

Looks like the news about Nintendo’s Switch 2 is true—it does incorporate NVIDIA’s magic, just like its last-gen sibling. The chip, seen online for the first time, provides a pretty exciting glimpse into its capabilities.

With the Nintendo Switch 2 out in the wild, we’ve finally started to get a picture of its performance, including the much-talked-about 4K 60 FPS output when docked. But details on the chip powering this device remained scarce. However, we already knew Nintendo had collaborated with NVIDIA to source custom Tegra SoCs. Many speculated this meant the inclusion of the next-gen Tegra239 chip. That’s now been confirmed thanks to a snapshot shared by @Kurnalsalts on Twitter, showcasing what appears to be NVIDIA’s Tegra239 chip, conveniently branded as “T239”.

In the tweet, the imagery does all the talking, giving us our first look, but there aren’t any further details offered. For those curious about the specs, let’s dig into what we’ve pieced together so far. The Tegra239 is rumored to be packing a punch with eight Arm Cortex-A78C cores, hybrid GPU components combining aspects of Ada Lovelace and Ampere, and 1536 CUDA cores. The GPU operates between 1.1 GHz and 1.5 GHz depending on whether it’s docked or undocked, and boasts a 128-bit memory interface coupled with LPDDR5 tech—quite the setup for a handheld console!

We don’t have a ton of information about the Tegra239 yet, but one thing’s for certain: this SoC’s support for DLSS upscaling is a game-changer for the console’s performance. For those interested in a full rundown, we’ve got a detailed breakdown on the specifications over on our in-depth post. With this chip, NVIDIA has made it clear that their vision for custom ASICs remains ambitious. Thanks to their partnership with ARM, NVIDIA continues to hold exclusive rights with Nintendo Switch.

A burning question on enthusiasts’ minds is: when will NVIDIA reveal their chip tailored for the AI PC market? Rumor has it, since last year, that Team Green might team up with MediaTek to roll out an ARM-centric SoC, either dubbed the N1X or N1 series, but we’re still waiting on those updates.

If you’re as eager as we are to see where NVIDIA and Nintendo head next, rest assured we’ll be keeping you posted on all the latest news.