TAIPEI (Reuters) -TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, reported on Thursday third-quarter revenue rose 30% year-on-year, beating the market forecast, as demand for the company's products leapt on surging interest in artificial intelligence applications.

Revenue for July-September came in at T$989.92 billion ($32.47 billion), according to Reuters calculations, compared with T$759.69 billion in the year ago period.

The latest result handily topped an LSEG SmartEstimate of T$973.26 billion drawn from 22 analysts, and was in the mid-point of guidance of $31.8 billion to $33 billion issued by TSMC in July in its last earnings call. TSMC only gives guidance in U.S. dollars.

TSMC will report full third-quarter earnings on October 16, including an updated outlook for the current quarter and full year.

The company, whose customers include Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Apple ( AAPL ), has been a major beneficiary of advances in AI, which has more than offset the tapering off of pandemic-led demand for chips used in consumer electronics like tablets.

TSMC's Taipei-listed shares have gained 34% so far this year, compared with an 18.5% rise for the broader market.

Taiwan's Foxconn, the world's largest contract electronics maker and Nvidia's ( NVDA ) biggest server maker, has also reported bumper sales, logging its highest-ever revenue for the third quarter.

($1 = 30.4880 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Faith Hung; Editing by Jamie Freed and Muralikumar Anantharaman)