TAIPEI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Taiwanese chipmaker TSMC

said fourth-quarter net profit rose 57% to a record on

Thursday, in line with expectations, as it benefits from surging

demand for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence

processing.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing ( TSM ) , the

world's largest contract chipmaker and a major Apple ( AAPL )

and Nvidia ( NVDA ) supplier, saw October to December net profit

rise to T$374.68 billion ($11.38 billion) from T$238.7 billion a

year earlier.

The profit was broadly in line with a T$377.95 billion LSEG

SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward forecasts from analysts

who are more consistently accurate.

($1 = 32.9330 Taiwan dollars)