The world's largest contract chipmaker has shrugged off those concerns stemming from a protracted US-China trade war, as TSMC's high-performance chips are in demand for smartphones and fifth-generation telecommunications (5G) technology. TSMC, whose clients include Apple, Qualcomm Inc and Huawei, said July-September profit was T$101.07 billion ($3.30 billion).

That compared with a T$96.33 billion average forecast drawn from 20 analysts, according to Refinitiv data.

Revenue rose 10.7% to $9.4 billion, compared with the company's own estimate of $9.1 billion to $9.2 billion.

New smartphone launches ahead of the year-end shopping season, as well as rising demand for new technologies such as 5G and artificial intelligence, will continue to drive sales for TSMC's high-performance chips, known as 7nm, analysts said.

Copyright Reuters, 2019