TAIPEI, Oct 16 (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 ( NVDA ) and Apple ( AAPL ), 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)