Updates for afternoon trade

By Nichiket Sunil

April 27 (Reuters) - Chip stocks led Taiwan and South Korean equities to record high closing levels on Monday with strong earnings in the United States powering artificial intelligence bets, as investors briefly looked past stalled U.S.-Iran peace talks.

Equity benchmarks in the two East Asian economies were set for their best month in decades, following sharp sell-offs in March, as chip giants see AI-driven demand boosting earnings, despite concerns around inflation and the Strait of Hormuz closure impacting the global economy.

Intel INTC.O forecast second-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations last week, driving confidence in South Korea and Taiwan's recent rallies.

Shares in Taipei .TWII rose 1.8% to their highest ever close. The benchmark, which houses one of Asia's two listed companies with a trillion-dollar valuation, TSMC 2330.TW, has advanced 24.9% so far in April, on track for its best month since late 2001.

South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 also ended at a record closing high with a 2.2% gain. Chipmaker SK Hynix 000660.KS surged as much as 7.8% to a record during the session, while rival Samsung Electronics 005930.KS closed with a 2.3% gain.

The KOSPI index has soared more than 30% in April and is on track for its best month since January 1998.

The two tech-heavy equity benchmarks have sharply outperformed emerging-market peers, driving the MSCI EM Asia gauge .MIMS00000PUS to a record-high earlier in the session.

The MSCI EM Asia gauge is set to end April 19.7% higher - its best month since June 1999.

"The good news for Asia is that the AI build-out globally remains very strong and if anything, seems to be accelerating, with Intel reporting better-than-expected results," MUFG analyst Michael Wan said.

Meanwhile, an Axios report said Iran wants to make a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz first and postpone nuclear talks, supporting risk appetite.

Stocks in Thailand .SETI gained as much as 1.9%, set for their best trading session since April 1.

The country's central bank will hold its policy meeting later this week and is expected to keep interest rates unchanged after a shock 25-basis-point cut at its last meeting in February.

Malaysia stocks .KLSE rose as much as 0.7% to over a one-month high, while Indonesian stocks .JKSE added 0.7%.

Most Asian currencies were stronger. The Malaysian ringgit MYR= rose 0.3% to break a three-session losing streak, while the Singapore dollar SGD= rose 0.1%.

The Philippine peso PHP= fell slightly to trade near its four-week lows of 60.76 a dollar.

The Indonesian rupiah =IDR weakened to 17,230 per dollar, not far from the record low of 17,320 it plumbed last week.

HIGHLIGHTS:
** Taiwan court hands out jail terms of up to 10 years in TSMC trade secrets case
** Activist Palliser takes stake in Japan's SMC, proposes $3.8 billion buyback, letter shows
** US grants extension to import Russian oil, says Philippines

Asia stock indexes and currencies at 0708 GMT
COUNTRY	FX RIC	FX DAILY %	FX YTD %	INDEX	STOCKS DAILY %	STOCKS YTD %
Japan	JPY=	+0.08	-1.63	.N225	1.4	16.8
China	CNY=CFXS	+0.05	+2.34	.SSEC	0.17	2.97
India	INR=IN	+0.03	-4.62	.NSEI	0.59	-8.00
Indonesia	IDR=	-0.06	-3.08	.JKSE	0.60	-17.06
Malaysia	MYR=	+0.28	+2.66	.KLSE	0.25	2.65
Philippines	PHP=	-0.05	-3.15	.PSI	-0.71	-2.51
S.Korea	KRW=KFTC	+0.38	-2.15	.KS11	2.15	56.97
Singapore	SGD=	+0.15	+0.91	.STI	-0.62	5.30
Taiwan	TWD=TP	+0.30	+0.05	.TWII	1.76	36.78
Thailand	THB=TH	-0.02	-2.71	.SETI	1.56	17.39