Key Takeaways
- Drone attacks linked to Iran conflict damaged AWS cloud facilities in Bahrain and the UAE.
- AWS CEO Matt Garman says round-the-clock teams are mobilized to maintain regional operations.
- Numerous AWS services in both Middle Eastern regions continue experiencing outages.
- Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy announced it deliberately struck Amazon’s Bahrain infrastructure.
- Operational challenges intensify with soaring energy prices and helium scarcity issues.
Amazon (AMZN) shares gained 3.68%, climbing $7.87 during extended trading hours, even as investors processed reports of significant disruptions affecting its cloud computing division.
Amazon Web Services faces an uphill battle maintaining operational continuity across its Middle Eastern presence following drone attacks that struck data center facilities in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. These strikes stem from the intensifying Iran conflict that reached new heights in February.
Speaking at San Francisco’s HumanX conference on Tuesday, AWS CEO Matt Garman directly acknowledged the crisis. “It’s a really difficult situation, and we’re working incredibly hard,” he revealed to CNBC. “We have teams, 24/7, working to make sure that we can keep our infrastructure up for our customers in that region.”
Multiple services spanning the Bahrain and UAE regions continue experiencing disruptions, as documented on AWS’s official status dashboard. Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Navy publicly declared last week that it deliberately targeted Amazon’s Bahrain-based data center operations. AWS representatives declined to address that specific claim but referenced a prior statement acknowledging that the Bahrain region “has been disrupted as a result of the ongoing conflict.”
Extended Outages Impact Both Regional Facilities
This infrastructure crisis represents no simple resolution. AWS established its Bahrain presence in 2019 and expanded with a UAE region in 2022 — strategic investments designed to capture surging cloud computing demand throughout the Middle East, servicing government entities and financial sector clients.
The magnitude of these disruptions places enormous strain on corporate customers who selected these geographic zones for data sovereignty compliance. Numerous organizations maintain Middle Eastern operations specifically to satisfy local regulatory mandates requiring data to remain within territorial boundaries — shifting workloads to European or Asian regions often violates legal requirements.
The military conflict simultaneously drives up operational expenses. Regional energy costs have surged since hostilities erupted in February. Cloud data centers, particularly those supporting generative artificial intelligence applications, consume massive electricity volumes. Helium — critical for semiconductor production — has grown increasingly scarce. Qatar, positioned near the Strait of Hormuz, supplies over one-third of global helium output, and transportation through the strait faces severe restrictions.
President Trump issued threats Monday to authorize strikes against civilian targets should Iran maintain its closure of the Strait of Hormuz, triggering sharp petroleum price increases.
AWS Maintains Long-Term Regional Commitment
Notwithstanding current challenges, Garman conveyed cautious optimism regarding future prospects.
“There’s a fantastic entrepreneurial spirit,” he observed. “There’s a willingness to invest. And so our and my excitement about investing long term in that region is just as strong as it’s ever been.”
Google, Microsoft, and Oracle all maintain existing or developing competitive data center infrastructure throughout the Middle East. Each provider confronts identical challenges around ensuring service reliability when physical assets face military threat exposure.
An AWS spokesperson verified the Bahrain disruption but provided no estimated timeframe for complete service restoration. The company’s status dashboard continues displaying numerous unavailable services across both Bahrain and UAE regions as of Tuesday afternoon.
