AWS says it can't restore service to Bahrain, UAE facilities 6 months after Iran strikes
6 months. That's how long AWS says it will take to restore service to two data centers struck by Iranian drones — and what it means for AI compute capacity in the Middle East.
Why it matters
A major cloud provider's data-center infrastructure remains offline half a year after a geopolitical strike, surfacing questions about AI compute resilience, regional redundancy, and the concentration risk in the global AI buildout.
The key facts
6 to knowTwo Amazon data centers in UAE struck by drones in March 2026
A third site (Bahrain) damaged by nearby drone hit
AWS unable to restore service 6 months post-strike
Infrastructure damage disrupts regional AI compute availability
Geopolitical risk to distributed data-center strategy
Implications for multi-region failover and redundancy assumptions
Go to the source
CNBC Technologycnbc.com
Publisher excerpt: In March, two Amazon data centers in the UAE were struck by drones, while a site was also damaged by a nearby drone hit.