Data Centers As Sitting Ducks
April 6, 2026
Another dinobaby post. No AI unless it is an image. This dinobaby is not Grandma Moses, just Grandpa Arnold.
Those in the data center business with structures in the Iran war zone realize that when rockets or other kinetics strike the roof, problems ensue. A well-placed round can disable a critical piece of the electrical or cooling equipment as well. Now there is another possible threat. “Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Just Named 18 US Tech Firms as Military Targets. The Age of the Civilian Data Centre Is Over.” The write up reported on March 31, 2026:
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps published a statement on its official Sepah News channel naming 18 US firms, from Apple and Microsoft to Nvidia and Palantir, as “legitimate targets” in retaliation for what it described as their role in enabling American and Israeli assassination operations inside Iran. The list reads like a roll call of the Nasdaq’s most valuable constituents. Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Nvidia, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, Dell, HP, IBM, JPMorgan Chase, Tesla, General Electric, Boeing, and Palantir all appear alongside Spire Solutions and G42, the Abu Dhabi-based AI firm that has become a linchpin of the Gulf’s artificial intelligence ambitions.
Some people are aware of potential supply disruptions in gasoline and helium, but the idea that the financial operations of certain countries could be disrupted is problematic. One cannot go to the local automatic teller machine and conduct a hundred million euro transaction.
Thanks, Venice.ai. I appreciate that you excluded the missile. Good enough.
I know that data centers in the Ashburn, Virginia area are hardened. However, I am not so sure that the data centers not far from the special economic zones in Dubai are constructed to what I think of AT&T milspecs. From what I have observed, direct missile strikes were not part of the actual construction.
The write up said:
The threat is extraordinary in its specificity. Rather than targeting military installations or government buildings, the IRGC has identified private-sector technology infrastructure as the mechanism through which, it alleges, the United States has been locating and killing senior Iranian officials. The statement declared that American ICT and AI companies are “the key element in designing and tracking terror targets,” and that “for every assassination and terrorist act in Iran, one facility or unit belonging to these companies will face destruction.”
What’s interesting is that the Ukraine-style asymmetric warfare is making explicit the companies whose infrastructure is at risk. The threats may be idle, but the vulnerability exists. One cannot pile sandbags on a roof of a typical data center. I assume that’s why the subtitle to the cited article makes the point “the age of the civilian data center is over.”
The more practical knock on effect of this threat is that the costs of retro-fitting a data center are not in the budget for the current quarter. New data centers will have to have some additional thought put into their construction method.
Data centers are sitting ducks. There are numerous points of vulnerability. Just “bury data centers” is easy to say. Using existing caves, old mine digs, or more exotic ideas like putting data centers in orbit present some challenges as well. There are some notable caves. I know from my work with the hard rock mining engineering firm Robinson & Robinson that suitable mine shafts exist if they are not filled with water or sealed to prevent some exciting environmental events from becoming noticeable to bunnies and people. The data center in space works if one has rockets that don’t explode on launch. For one firm, exploding rockets suggest the company should consider switching to the production of war munitions.
The write up pointed out:
The exposure is enormous. Microsoft has committed $15 billion to expanding its operations in the UAE by 2029. Amazon has pledged $5 billion to an AI hub in Riyadh. Oracle, Cisco, and Nvidia announced a partnership with OpenAI to build an AI campus in the UAE. Google and Amazon Web Services are constructing dedicated cloud regions in Saudi Arabia scheduled to launch this year. According to analysts at TD Cowen, hyperscaler capital expenditure is forecast to exceed $600 billion in 2026, with roughly 75 per cent tied to AI infrastructure. A substantial portion of that money is flowing into the very region the IRGC is now threatening.
I have confidence that the bean counters and MBAs at the high-tech super companies have the problem solved. These folks have their own brains and the unfettered power of AI without guardrails. Obviously for these BAIT (big AI technology) companies the data center threat is a no brainer. I assume these BAIT outfits know who will ensure their data centers too. I admire forward thinking and the use of agentic AI to solve problems. For example, what if an adversary strikes a data center in Fremont on the way to San Jose?
Stephen E Arnold, April 6, 2026
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