At 4.30am on Sunday morning, an Iranian Shahed 136 drone struck an Amazon Web Services datacentre in the United Arab Emirates, setting off a devastating fire and forcing a shutdown of the power supply. View image in fullscreen A technician works at an Amazon Web Services AI data centre. Then there are the geo-politics, with the US keen to keep the Gulf states away from Chinese technology. View image in fullscreen The US president, Donald Trump, meets the United Arab Emirates president, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi during his four-day tour of Gulf states last year. View image in fullscreen Analysts say operators of prominent datacentres like Amazon Web Services may in future have to invest in air defence, just as maritime operators do against pirates.

Source: The Guardian March 07, 2026 17:01 UTC