Taiwanese chip giant, Taiwan Semiconductor Manfuacturing Co, said Thursday its net profit surged to a fresh record in the first quarter, fueled by the global artificial intelligence race despite the war in the Middle East. Massive demand for AI hardware means business is booming for TSMC — the biggest contract maker of microchips used in everything from Apple phones to Nvidia processors.TSMC's net profit for the first three months of the year jumped 58.3% YoY to NT$572.5 billion ($18 billion), beating analyst estimates of NT$540.20 billion as governments and tech giants continue to pour huge sums into building data centers that…