Amazon Web Services data centers in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain remain largely offline over six months after Iranian drone attacks damaged the facilities, disrupting the Gulf region's push into artificial intelligence infrastructure.
The damaged AWS facilities continue to hamper operations across the Middle East, where governments and companies have invested billions in AI development and cloud computing capabilities. The prolonged outage has forced businesses to seek alternative cloud providers and delayed projects dependent on regional data infrastructure.
Iranian attacks on the facilities occurred months ago, but repairs have progressed slowly. The extended downtime raises questions about infrastructure resilience in the region and the viability of establishing competitive AI hubs in Abu Dhabi and Bahrain.
AWS has not provided a definitive timeline for full restoration. The outage underscores vulnerabilities in critical tech infrastructure and the challenges facing Middle Eastern nations attempting to build homegrown AI ecosystems independent of established Western data center networks.
The situation comes as Gulf states race to position themselves as regional AI leaders, with significant government backing for tech initiatives.
U.S. data centers are projected to consume more natural gas than Germany and Japan combined by 2035, driven by surging demand from artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Google has announced a celebration event for October 5, with preorders opening September 21. The event details remain limited pending the official announcement.
Meta is rolling out custom-designed AI processors to reduce infrastructure expenses. The first chip launches in data centers next year, with a second model arriving by end of 2027.
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