Data Center Warfare: Defending the Key Terrain of AI Infrastructure

Modern War Institute  |  Jason Vogt, Nina A. Kollars

Iranian missile and drone strikes against three Amazon Web Services (AWS) data centers in the UAE and Bahrain signal a major shift where artificial intelligence infrastructure has become a primary target of state-level warfare. These attacks, which prompted Tehran to declare eighteen major technology companies as legitimate military targets, expose the vulnerability of concentrated digital megacampuses.

As global computing power is projected to grow by 100 gigawatts by 2030, the massive energy and water demands of training advanced AI models are concentrating immense economic and military value into highly localized, fixed sites. This concentration forces defense planners to re-evaluate critical infrastructure protection against sabotage, cyberattacks, and conventional strikes, particularly in regions like the Indo-Pacific. In Taiwan, the construction of southern new data centers offers Beijing alternative leverage points, while Malaysia's Johor technology corridor risks becoming a geopolitical flashpoint where China could restrict vital data flows to Singapore.

Comment

The targeting of AWS data centres in Bahrain and the UAE marks a doctrinal shift where commercial cloud infrastructure is integrated directly into state-level targeting methodologies. By designating multinational technology firms as combatants, adversaries exploit the legal and operational ambiguity of hosting sovereign military and civilian data on shared private servers. This evolution challenges traditional deterrence models, as commercial cloud providers lack the organic defence capabilities to repel kinetic or electronic state-sponsored aggression against physical server hubs.

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