TAIPEI, July 17 (Reuters) - TSMC, the world's

largest contract chipmaker, posted a 60.7% jump in

second-quarter net profit on Thursday, beating market forecasts

and hitting a historic high as it benefited from surging demand

for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence applications.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( TSM ), whose

customers include Apple ( AAPL ) and Nvidia ( NVDA ), saw

April-June net profit rise to T$398.3 billion ($13.53 billion).

The profit handily beat a T$377.9 billion LSEG

SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts

who are more consistently accurate.

($1 = 29.4440 Taiwan dollars)