There is an intrinsic defect lying in traditional strain-gauge type cutting force dynamometer that sensitivity and rigidity is a pair of contradictive factors that constrain its performance improvement.In order to optimize this problem,a proposal of introducing MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical-system) technique into cutting force measurement is reported in this research because semi-conductive strain gauge fabricated by MEMS technique is more sensitive than traditional metal strain gauge.A tri-axial cutting force dynamometer is designed and manufactured with semi-conductive strain gauge.Static calibration shows that the developed dynamometer owns good static properties,and a sensitivity improvement of 32 times is observed,which demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed method.Dynamic machining experiment results reveal that the dynamometer possesses favorable potential for real-time dynamic cutting force measurement.