TAIPEI (Reuters) -TSMC, the world's largest contract chipmaker, posted a 39.1% jump in third-quarter net profit on Thursday, beating market forecasts and hitting a record as it benefited from surging demand for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence applications.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( TSM ), whose customers include Nvidia and Apple, saw July-September net profit rise to T$452.3 billion ($14.76 billion).

The profit handily beat a T$417.7 billion LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.

($1 = 30.6390 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Wen-Yee Lee, Faith Hung and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)