After attacks on data centres risk costs become part of the Gulf's computing gamble
Computing capacity is no longer just a matter of chips, land and power. An EnterpriseAM report poses a more pressing question for Gulf AI plans: what happens when data centres themselves become part of regional conflict calculations? The report says enthusiasm for building infrastructure has not clearly waned despite the risks, but it also notes that insurance costs and security threats have become a factor in Western companies' decisions about expansion.
The article does not announce a Western withdrawal from the region, nor does it prove that projects will stop. It does note that construction work on large AI projects in the Gulf has exceeded $100 billion and has generally continued, despite higher insurance costs and periodic fighting. Yet continued building does not eliminate the fact that investors and boards are weighing the Gulf’s advantages as a computing hub against the possibility of renewed conflict.
Physical risk enters the investment modelAccording to EnterpriseAM, two Amazon Web Services data centres in the UAE were hit by Iranian drones, and another site in Bahrain suffered a near miss at the start of the war. The report says the incidents caused structural damage, power outages and fires, based on the company’s service-status dashboard. It also notes that another Bahrain site was damaged in April, and that Amazon confirmed in a September update that it could not restore cloud services in Bahrain and parts of the UAE, and that it is working to replace the damaged infrastructure in the UAE.
These are facts reported by the news article, not a judgment on the safety of every facility in the Gulf. Their practical implication is clear: a data centre is a large, visibly located industrial asset, making it hard to treat it as merely an invisible part of the software economy. The report quotes Sam Winterleaf of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace saying that data centres are relatively easy targets because of their size, dispersion and the ability to pinpoint their locations.
Plans have not stopped, but they are adaptingThe report says the UAE is considering revising the design of its US-UAE AI campus, which has a capacity of 5 GW and is led by “G42”, so that it would be distributed across a network of data centres within the country rather than a single large site in Abu Dhabi. The source notes that the plan is not final, and that broader distribution could make it harder to disrupt operations with a single strike. It also says this is not expected to affect the first phase of “StarGate UAE”, which has a capacity of 1 GW and a value of $30 billion, and is under construction according to the report.
The article also notes ongoing commitments: “Khozna”, the data-centre arm of G42, expects to deliver the first 200 MW of computing for the “StarGate” campus in Q4 2026, and EnterpriseAM cites Bloomberg that Microsoft’s data-centre region in eastern Saudi Arabia will open to customers in November, while Amazon plans to make up to 50 MW available in the first AI zone in Saudi Arabia by 2028. These are plans and timelines reported in the article, not guarantees of outcomes or of on-schedule operation.
Competition for computing requires flexibilityFrom a regional perspective, the bet is not limited to attracting a global firm or announcing new capacity. The report links the future of additional investment to companies’ ability to balance geographic risk with the Gulf’s advantages, including expected demand for computing. Consequently, site distribution, service-recovery plans and customers’ ability to move data and services become economic factors as much as security considerations.
For cloud architects, cyber-security professionals and business-continuity staff, this landscape broadens the skill set required. The task does not stop at running servers; it also involves understanding the interdependence of power, connectivity, geography and the service delivered to the client. For decision-makers, the article offers a limited but useful lesson: announcing a large investment is not enough to gauge a computing centre’s readiness, because service continuity is part of the investment’s value itself.
The report does not have a definitive answer on whether Western firms will increase or cut their investments. It does describe a phase where large financial commitments coexist with cautious waiting over how the risks will evolve. That distinction matters: projects staying on track does not mean the next expansion decision will be made using the same criteria that prevailed before digital facilities became a potential target.