If there was any concern about the health of the artificial-intelligence chip market currently, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. put that to rest with its latest results — setting up Nvidia Corp.

U.S. chip stocks rose before the bell on Thursday after industry bellwether TSMC's strong sales forecast fanned investor optimism about demand for processors used to power artificial intelligence applications.

It’s a sign of strong demand for artificial-intelligence chips. Taiwan Semi, or TSMC, said revenue in U.S. dollars in the third quarter jumped 36% from a year earlier to $23.5 billion. Net profit rose 54% on the year to the equivalent of $10.