TAIPEI, July 31 (Reuters) - Taiwan's trade-dependent economy grew more than expected in the second quarter of 2024, thanks to stronger demand for new applications such as artificial intelligence (AI)-related products.

Taiwan is a key hub in the global technology supply chain for companies such as Apple and Nvidia, and home to the world's largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC) .

Gross domestic product grew by a preliminary 5.09% in the April-June period from a year earlier, the statistics agency said on Wednesday, beating the 4.8% growth forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll, but slower than the 6.56% expansion in the first quarter.

Quarter-on-quarter, the economy grew at a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 0.13%.

Shipments from the technology sector, boosted by global demand for AI-related products, will likely help the economic momentum.

Second-quarter exports rose 9.9% versus the same period in 2023, compared with the first quarter's annual expansion of 12.9%.

The economy in China, Taiwan's largest export market, grew much more slowly than expected in the second-quarter, expanding 4.7%, its slowest since the first quarter of 2023 and missing a 5.1% analyst forecast in a Reuters poll. (Reporting by Faith Hung and Jeanny Kao; Editing by Andrew Heavens)