Taiwan’s chipmaker TSMC has reported a 58% jump in profit for the January-March quarter thanks to strong demand driven by the artificial intelligence boom even as the Iran war was driving up costs. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., a key supplier for Apple and Nvidia and the largest contract chipmaker in the world, reported a record net profit of 572.5 billion new Taiwan dollars ($18.1 billion) for the last quarter, better than analysts had expected. The company said AI-related demand continues to be “extremely robust”. It has been expanding chip fabrication plants in the U.S., Japan and Taiwan.