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By Sherin Sunny

July 17 (Reuters) - Asian shares fell for a second consecutive session on Friday, with Taiwan bearing the brunt of a chip-stock selloff, as investors reassessed the durability of the AI-driven global rally.

TSMC 2330.TW, the world's top contract chipmaker and a key Nvidia NVDA.O and Apple AAPL.O supplier, shed more than 7% to end at a five-week low despite reporting record quarterly profit on Thursday. The stock marked its worst week since early March.

Taiwan's semiconductor-heavy benchmark .TWII posted its worst week since early April 2025, falling more than 6% on the day to its lowest close in nearly two months.

Investors are taking another step towards scrutinising chipmakers' ability to monetise, said Glenn Yin, director of research at ACCM, adding that despite TSMC's record quarterly profit, investors are focused on higher capital expenditure and overseas expansion costs.

The MSCI EM Asia equities index .MIMS00000PUS slumped as much as 3.3%. Taiwanese stocks make up one-third of the index.

"Taiwan is one of the cleanest liquid proxies for AI chip demand. When positioning is crowded, even a strong result can trigger profit-taking if the upside surprise is not enough," said Billy Leung, investment strategist at Global X ETFs Australia.

The chip-heavy South Korean benchmark KOSPI .KS11 ended the week nearly 9% in the red, rounding off a turbulent week of sharp swings in memory chipmakers, the first rate hike in over three years, and regulatory intervention in single-stock leveraged funds that are behind much of the upheaval.

The market was closed on Friday.

Volatility in chipmakers could ease on greater signs about hyperscaler AI capex remaining durable and higher foundry spending translating into sustained earnings growth, said Leung.

In Singapore, equities .STI fell as much as 0.8% to extend declines from the previous session, while the currency SGD= was steady at 1.2899 a dollar.

In Malaysia, stocks .KLSE were up 0.8% while the ringgit MYR= weakened marginally to 4.081 per U.S. dollar, its lowest since early July. Data showed that Malaysia's economy grew 5.8% in the second quarter from a year earlier.

Shares in the Philippines .PSI advanced as much as 1.4%, their highest since early March, while those in Jakarta .JKSE gained as much as 1%, logging their seventh straight session of gains.

Both the Thai baht THB=TH and the Taiwan dollar TWD=TP weakened to their lowest since late April 2025. The rupiah IDR= extended gains into a fourth day, firming to 17,935 a dollar for the first time in two weeks.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Japan's Nikkei slides into correction zone on tech selloff, Middle East conflict

** Japan June core inflation seen at 1.6% on elevated energy prices, Reuters poll shows

** CXMT's $8.6 billion Shanghai IPO draws less frenzied demand amid China tech selloff

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0754 GMT
COUNTRY	FX RIC	FX DAILY %	FX YTD %	INDEX	STOCKS DAILY %	STOCKS YTD %
Japan	JPY=	+0.09	-3.45	.N225	-4.03	23.75
China	CNY=CFXS	-0.07	+3.13	.SSEC	-3.05	-5.16
India	INR=IN	+0.00	-6.72	.NSEI	0.86	-7.08
Indonesia	IDR=	+0.53	-6.79	.JKSE	0.57	-28.96
Malaysia	MYR=	-0.25	-0.59	.KLSE	0.78	3.30
Philippines	PHP=	+0.07	-4.51	.PSI	1.13	5.68
S.Korea	KRW=KFTC	-0.10	-2.77	.KS11	-6.37	61.85
Singapore	SGD=	-0.01	-0.33	.STI	-0.60	18.50
Taiwan	TWD=TP	-0.25	-2.76	.TWII	-4.18	50.94
Thailand	THB=TH	-0.04	-6.34	.SETI	0.17	30.04