Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co 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,

Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) are up in premarket trading Thursday on strong demand for its advanced chips.

World's largest contract chipmaker, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, posted a net profit of T$374.68 billion ($11.4 billion) for the quarter ended Dec 31

TSMC is set to report a net profit of T$377.95 billion ($11.44 billion) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, according to a LSEG SmartEstimate drawn from 22 analysts. SmartEstimates give greater weighting to forecasts from analysts who are more consistently accurate.

TSMC, the world's largest contract chip manufacturer, produces advanced processors for clients such as Nvidia and Apple and has benefited from the megatrend in favor of AI.

TSMC, the Taiwanese company and world’s largest chipmaker, reported a net profit of $11.37 billion for the fourth quarter, representing a 57 percent year-on-year increase and the highest quarterly profit in the company’s history,