Taiwan shares opened firmly higher on the 17th, defying weaker overseas sentiment after softer U.S. retail sales and consumer confidence data and profit-taking on Wall Street pulled all four major U.S. indexes lower on Friday. The TAIEX rose as much as 332.63 points in early trade to 46,143.64, quickly reclaiming the 46,000 level, even as TSMC's U.S.-listed ADR had slipped 0.96%. Among large-cap stocks, TSMC rose NT$15 to NT$2,410 and held above its 5-day moving average, Delta Electronics climbed more than 5% to NT$1,985, ASE Technology Holding gained 2.92% to NT$634, Hon Hai stayed near flat at NT$260, and MediaTek fell more than 1% to NT$4,165. Chuan Hu drew attention after jumping to limit-up (the daily maximum allowed gain) at NT$13,750, extending record highs on strong AI server slide rail demand, while PCB makers also rallied on expectations of stronger AI server and high-end substrate demand. The advance was uneven, however, with the TPEx index dropping as much as 0.71% to 398.97, reflecting a shift of funds from smaller shares into large-cap weighted names and select strong sectors. Analysts also highlighted last week's 1,585.1-point, or 3.58%, gain in the main board and combined net buying of NT$264.54 billion by the three major institutional investor groups as signs that institutional money is returning to Taiwan equities. Near-term caution remains around Wednesday's TAIEX futures settlement, with foreign investors still holding a net short position of 85,179 contracts, though analysts said the medium- to long-term outlook remains constructive on AI demand, with year-end index targets of 50,000 in a conservative case and 55,000 in an optimistic scenario.