LAS VEGAS -- In an effort to cope with heavy demand for its Xbox 360, Microsoft Corp. said today it would outsource new production to Celestica.

The Toronto-based contract manufacturer is the third EMS firm contracted to build the video game console.

EMS firms Flextronics and Wistron already build the popular gaming console unit.

“To further bolster our capacity for output, I’m happy to announce that next month Celestica will join both Flextronics and Wistron as our third manufacturing partner. We need to meet the consumer demand worldwide and having this ability now to do that with three manufacturing partners helps us do that,” said Microsoft's Peter Moore, in a statement.

Microsoft is on track to meet its goal of shipping 4.5 million to 5.5 million consoles by the end of June. Founder Bill Gates said, "We think by the time we get to the 4.5 million to 5.5 million unit level that the backlog won't be all that substantial." He added that several new peripherals are expected by mid-year, including cameras and communications connections to allow text messaging between the Xbox and PCs.

Gates also said the company would have at least 50 high-definition games on the market by mid year.

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