UAE rethinks AI data centre plans after Iranian attacks, Reuters reports

The United Arab Emirates is rethinking plans for a large artificial intelligence data centre project after Iranian strikes on Gulf infrastructure raised concerns over the security of key facilities, Reuters reported on Friday, citing six people familiar with the matter.

The 5-gigawatt project, originally envisioned as a single 10-square-mile campus in Abu Dhabi, is now likely to be spread across a number of sites in the UAE, four of the sources said.

Authorities are also looking at tougher protection from drone and missile strikes, including underground facilities, air defence systems, electronic jamming devices and blast-resistant construction, the sources said.

The project is being developed under the Stargate UAE initiative with US technology companies and sits at the centre of UAE efforts to position itself as a global AI centre.

According to Reuters, Iranian attacks in March damaged two Amazon Web Services data centres in the UAE and one in Bahrain, affecting cloud services in the area.

Iran’s armed forces also issued a video warning in April that the Stargate UAE facility could be a possible target.

Daniel Benaim, a former US deputy assistant secretary of state, said the conflict was an “economic earthquake” for the Gulf states. “Changes to harden critical infrastructure are vitally necessary,” Benaim said.