TAIPEI (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.)