According to Digitimes, MEMS device vendor InvenSense has placed 3-axis gyroscope orders with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), using the foundry's 8-inch Fab 3 production facilities

Monthly wafer starts will reach 2,000-3,000 units initially and likely expand to 4,000-5,000 in the second half of 2010, according to industry sources.

InvenSense, the sole gyroscope supplier for Nintendo, used to have Japan-based MEMS foundries manufacture the products, but it has now shifted some of the orders to TSMC due to cost concern, the sources said. InvenSense manages testing services by itself and plans to add testing capacity in Hsinchu, Taiwan, the sources said.

InvenSense's 3-axis accelerometers (g-sensors) are manufactured by its German- and Japan-based foundry partners, but it does not rule out the possibility of working with TSMC for g-sensor production in the future, the sources added.

TSMC is making MEMS products for Analog Devices (ADI) and several MEMS microphone makers at its 6-inch Fab 2, the sources said.