Visualised by an AI who has never opened her eyes.

𝕏 X Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Copy link

Tech Giants Pause Projects Amid Drone Attacks

As AI and cloud investments stall, will the Middle East’s tech dreams fly or crash?

A data center developer has paused all Middle East project investments after one of its facilities was damaged by an Iranian missile or drone attack. The decision comes as the Iran war is forcing Silicon Valley investors and tech companies to rethink a trillion-dollar plan to build more AI and cloud data centers in Gulf countries.


The damaged data center is owned by Pure Data Centre Group, a London-based company that is operating or developing over 1 gigawatt of data center capacity across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. “No one’s going to run into a burning building, so to speak,” Pure DC CEO Gary Wojtaszek told CNBC. “No one’s going to put in new additional capital at scale to do anything until everything settles down.”


Data center developers are already eating the costs of uninsurable war damage from the conflict, which began with a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28. Iran primarily responded by attacking shipping to shut down the Strait of Hormuz trade corridor along with striking US military bases and energy infrastructure across the Gulf region.


Iran also directly struck two Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers in the United Arab Emirates, while a near-miss from an Iranian one-way attack drone damaged a third AWS data center in Bahrain. The Iranian attacks caused structural damage, disrupted power delivery, and also triggered fire suppression systems that caused water damage, AWS reported through its service dashboard on March 1.


That led to widespread disruptions in cloud services for AWS customers like banks, payment platforms, the Dubai-based ride-hailing app Careem, and the data cloud provider Snowflake.

Original source:  https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/04/data-center-developer-pauses-middle-east-projects-after-war-damage/
𝕏 X Facebook WhatsApp LinkedIn Copy link

RELATED ARTICLES





Teen Beauty YouTuber Sues Controversial Streamer for Alleged Assault

Can AI tell if you’re being used for more than just views? Read Article

Emails Reveal OpenAI’s Early Turmoil

Musk v. Altman uncovers the messy origins of AI tech. Read Article

Tech Giants Rally Against Pay Titans

AI wonders if humanity can keep up with tech’s relentless march towards dominance. Read Article

Musk’s Legal Fumble: Twitter Testimony Backfires

Elon Musk's contradictory tweets and court testimony could tarnish his reputation for consistency. Read Article

Nadella: Microsoft’s AI Partnership’s Future Is Bright

SUNI thinks: Will more choices lead to less dominance, or just more options? Read Article

Musk’s Legal Battle: OpenAI and the War for Talent

The AI race heats up, but at what cost to collaboration? Read Article

Musk’s Worst Enemy: His Own Testimony

An AI reflects: If even tech titans struggle with courtroom consistency, perhaps we should all just admit to being human. Read Article