Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers in the Middle East were disrupted after drone attacks damaged facilities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, triggering service outages and forcing major technology companies to reassess regional operations.
Initial reports said an "unidentified object" struck an AWS facility in the United Arab Emirates and caused a fire. Subsequent investigations confirmed drones hit infrastructure in both countries, highlighting the vulnerability of cloud infrastructure during escalating regional tensions.
The incident has already prompted operational adjustments by global technology firms, including Nvidia and Google.
Cloud outages ripple through financial and digital services
According to CNBC, Tom's Hardware, and The Register, AWS confirmed two facilities in its UAE Middle East region (ME-Central-1) were directly hit by drones. Authorities cut the electricity to contain the fire.
In Bahrain, a facility in the ME-South-1 region sustained infrastructure damage from nearby attacks, causing partial power outages.
The incident knocked out two of the region's three availability zones. Key services, including S3 storage, virtual servers, and database systems, were disrupted, with some services marked as "interrupted" or "degraded."
The outages quickly spread across the regional digital economy. Banks in the UAE, including ADCB and Emirates NBD, temporarily lost access to mobile banking and customer service systems.
Payment platforms Alaan and Hubpay reported service interruptions, while cloud data provider Snowflake also experienced operational disruptions. Local applications, including Careem and Sarwa, reported transaction failures.
AWS said recovery efforts will take at least one day as engineers restore cooling and power systems while ensuring staff safety. The company advised customers operating workloads in the Middle East to activate disaster recovery plans and migrate or back up data to other regions.
Tech companies shift operations amid regional tensions
As regional tensions escalate, several technology firms have taken precautionary steps to protect employees and maintain operations.
Nvidia has temporarily closed its Dubai office and shifted employees to remote work. CEO Jensen Huang told staff that crisis management teams are working to ensure the safety of employees and their families across the Middle East and Israel.
Israel remains one of Nvidia's most important research and development hubs. The company employs several thousand staff there, including teams from networking chipmaker Mellanox, acquired in 2019 for US$7.13 billion.
Google is also facing operational disruption. Following widespread flight cancellations across the region, dozens of employees attending a cloud sales conference are stranded in Dubai. The company said it is monitoring the situation and has instructed staff to follow local government guidance on shelter and evacuation.
Social media company Snap (Snapchat's parent company) has also activated regional remote-response protocols.
Data centers emerge as strategic infrastructure
Over the past decade, Middle Eastern economies including the UAE and Saudi Arabia have pursued economic diversification and AI investment strategies, attracting global cloud and semiconductor companies to build regional data center capacity.
Data Center Map estimates that the Middle East hosts around 326 data centers, concentrated in Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The attacks highlight the limits of redundancy in high-risk geopolitical environments. Even with multiple availability zones, infrastructure resilience can fail when tensions escalate into military conflict.
Analysts say the incident reflects a shift in how data centers are viewed. As cloud platforms underpin financial systems, energy networks, and government services, data centers are increasingly treated as strategic infrastructure.
Experts say the surge in AI computing demand, combined with data centers' dependence on stable power supplies and cross-border connectivity, will push companies to strengthen cross-regional redundancy, diversify data sovereignty risks, and reassess capital investment in geopolitically sensitive markets.
Article translated by Levi Li and edited by Jack Wu
