With Xbox Series X inventory shortages persisting past the holiday shopping season, Microsoft has enlisted AMD's help to speed up production of the new console.

In a video podcast appearance with Larry "Major Nelson" Herb, director of programming for Xbox Live, Xbox boss Phil Spencer revealed his appeal to AMD to produce the Series X CPUs and GPUs. Spencer said that Microsoft is "working as hard as we can" to meet demand.

Recognizing the difficulty consumers have in actually getting new consoles, Spencer said that Microsoft has even directly asked AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su to ramp up production of key components.

"I've had several people ask me, 'Why didn't you produce more? Why didn't we start earlier? Why didn't we ship sooner? Spencer explained. 'It's really a matter of physics and engineering. We're producing as fast as we can. All of our assembly lines are up and running. I was on the phone with Lisa Su of AMD last week and asked, 'How can we produce more? So it's something we're constantly working on."

While it is theoretically possible that more Zen 2-based CPUs and RDNA 2 graphics chipsets could be supplied to get more Series X consoles out of the factory, AMD is also producing CPUs and GPUs for Sony's next-generation consoles, so they also have PS5 also has.

Also, the PS5 is in such short supply that finding where to buy one is a nightmare. The console shortage is not helped by bot-wielding duffers buying up new consoles as soon as they become available.

Even if AMD heeds Spencer's call for help, don't expect Xbox Series X inventory to increase anytime soon; Xbox CFO Tim Stuart has previously warned that inventory shortages will continue "into the post-holiday quarter" and supply and demand could stabilize around April 2021.

In the meantime, check out our article on where to buy the Xbox Series X as we track restocking of the Xbox Series X.