TAIPEI : Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the dominant producer of advanced chips used in artificial intelligence applications, is expected to report a 42 per cent leap in third-quarter profit on Thursday thanks to soaring demand. The world's largest contract chipmaker, whose customers include Apple and Nvidia, has benefited from a surge towards AI across a spectrum of industries. TSMC is set to report a net profit of T$300.1 billion ($9.33 billion) for the quarter ended Sept. 30,