By Sneha Kumar

Feb 5 (Reuters) - South Korean and Taiwanese equities led losses in emerging Asia stock markets on Thursday, tracking an overnight tech selloff on Wall Street as investors weighed the possible implications of rapid AI expansion on the broader technology sector.

The MSCI gauge of emerging Asian equities .MIMS00000PUS slipped more than 2%, dragged lower by a 4% plunge in South Korea's KOSPI index .KS11 and a 1.5% decline in Taiwan's benchmark equities gauge .TWII.

Together, the two tech-heavy benchmarks make up around 40% of the MSCI index, and continue to hover near their lifetime peaks.

Shares of top contract chipmaker TSMC 2330.TW dropped 0.8%, while Samsung Electronics 005930.KS and SK Hynix 000660.KS fell between 5% and 6%, dragging the regional IT stocks gauge .MIMS0IT00PUS down more than 3%.

Investors have been exiting technology stocks on worries massive AI outlays could disrupt the technology services sectors. The latest selloff, which wiped out about $830 billion globally, was triggered by a new legal tool from Anthropic's Claude large language model.

"While the Asia tech complex remains more insulated from this selloff, given many are further up the AI supply chain, investors are looking elsewhere to park capital as the longer term viability of traditional SaaS (software-as-a-service) business models remains in question," said Hugh Lam, investment strategist at Betashares.

Song Zhe, senior investment specialist at Asia and Global EM Equities with BNP Paribas, said, "the latest AI wobble looks like classic de-risking in crowded trade YTD, rather than a clean break in AI buildout."

"Near term, expect a choppy tape and sharper differentiation by order visibility rather than a one-way move."

In Southeast Asia, stocks in Thailand .SETI, Singapore .STI and Malaysia .KLSE slipped. Indonesia's Jakarta Composite Index .JKSE, the worst-performing index in the region so far this year, inched higher for a third straight session, after plunging 17% late last month following MSCI's warnings over transparency concerns.

Among currencies, the Thai Baht THB=TH depreciated to 31.90 per U.S. dollar, its weakest since December 9. The country's commerce ministry reported a bigger-than-expected decline in headline inflation for January.

In the Philippines, annual inflation accelerated to 2.0% in January, the fastest pace in 11 months, but remained within the central bank's 2% to 4% target for the year.

The peso PHP= appreciated 0.2% to 58.972 against the U.S. dollar.

Elsewhere, the ringgit MYR= slipped 0.4%, while the Singapore dollar SGD= dropped 0.1%.

HIGHLIGHTS:

** Yield on Indonesia's 10-year benchmark bonds ID10YT=RR slips to 6.297%

** U.S. proposes critical minerals trade bloc aimed at countering China

** TSMC plans $17 billion investment in 3-nanometre chip production in Japan, Yomiuri reports

** Johor-Singapore special economic zone draws $17.3 billion in investments in 2025, Malaysia says

(Reporting by Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

((Sneha.kumar@thomsonreuters.com))