AI Infrastructure Investment Surge and Data Center Bottlenecks

Etched ($300M at $10.3B), SambaNova ($1B), OpenRouter ($1.3B) lead funding wave; US VC hit $412.7B H1 2026 with 86% AI share. Meanwhile, 71% oppose local data centers, 75 projects blocked in Q1 2026 (Gallup), and Blackstone abandoned world's largest campus. Schneider/AMD unveiled Helios AI Factory blueprint. Community resistance remains a key bottleneck. A contrarian piece questions AI investment returns.