Data centers are becoming a target of warfare for the first time

Data centers are becoming a target of warfare for the first time

By Blake Montgomery
Publication Date: 2026-03-10 13:29:00

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The US-Israel war against Iran shows that data centers represent a new frontier in warfare

Iran is bombing data centers in the Persian Gulf to blow up symbols of the Gulf states’ technology alliance with the US. Added bonus: They will be extremely costly to rebuild, as they are among the most expensive buildings in history. My colleague Daniel Boffey reports:

It is assumed that this is a first: the deliberate focus on a commercial data centerer by the armed forces of a country at war.

At 4:30 a.m. on Sunday morning, an Iranian Shahed-136 drone hit an Amazon Web Services data centerA devastating fire broke out in the United Arab Emirates, forcing a power shutdown. Further damage occurred when attempts were made to extinguish the flames with water.

Soon afterwards a second data centerHe belonged to the US technology company and was hit….