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

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

Gross domestic product grew by a preliminary 3.97% in the July-September period from a year earlier, the statistics agency said on Thursday, beating the 3.4% growth forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll, but slower than the 5.06% expansion in the second quarter.

Quarter-on-quarter, the economy grew at a seasonally adjusted annualised rate of 4.38%.

Third-quarter exports rose 8.04% versus the same period in 2023, compared with the second quarter's annual expansion of 9.9%.

Sluggish growth in China, Taiwan's largest export market, has not helped - the economy there grew at the slowest pace since early 2023 in the third quarter.