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Fourth-quarter profit climbs 57% to a record high

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Stock price has leapt on chip demand for AI applications

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Incoming Trump administration an uncertainty for TSMC

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Earnings call at 0600 GMT on Thursday

(Updates with fourth quarter results)

TAIPEI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Taiwan Semiconductor

Manufacturing Co ( TSM ) reported a 57% leap in fourth-quarter

profit on Thursday as demand surges for advanced chips used in

artificial intelligence processing.

The world's largest contract chipmaker, whose customers

include Apple ( AAPL ) and Nvidia ( NVDA ), posted a net profit

of T$374.68 billion ($11.4 billion) for the quarter ended Dec.

31, a record high for any quarter.

That was in line with the T$377.95 billion LSEG

SmartEstimate drawn from 22 analysts. SmartEstimates give

greater weighting to forecasts from analysts who are more

consistently accurate.

The Taiwanese company, however, faces headwinds from U.S.

government technology restrictions on China and uncertainty

about President-elect Donald Trump's incoming administration,

which has threatened broad import tariffs.

The U.S. government said on Monday it would further restrict

AI chip and technology exports, adding to potential issues TSMC

could face, though Taiwan and other close U.S. allies will be

allowed unlimited access to U.S. AI technology.

TSMC is spending billions of dollars on new factories

overseas, including $65 billion on three plants in the U.S.

state of Arizona, though it says most manufacturing will remain

in Taiwan.

The AI boom has helped drive up the price of shares in

Asia's most valuable company, with TSMC's Taipei-listed stock

soaring 81% last year, compared with a 28.5% gain for the

broader market.

The stock closed up 3.8% on Thursday ahead of the earnings

call.

($1 = 33.0390 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Yimou Lee, Ben Blanchard and Faith Hung; Editing

by Lincoln Feast and Edwina Gibbs.)