“The AWS Bahrain Region has been disrupted as a result of the ongoing conflict. We are working closely with local authorities and prioritizing the safety of our personnel throughout our recovery efforts,” an AWS spokesperson told Tom’s Hardware . “We continue to support affected customers, helping them to migrate to alternate AWS Regions, with a large number already successfully operating their applications from other parts of the world. As this situation evolves, and, as we have advised before, we request those with workloads in the affected regions continue to migrate to other locations.”
Although AWS did not confirm that the Bahrain site had been directly struck by a drone, which is what happened to two AWS facilities in the UAE , the possibility that the current disruption has been caused by a strike cannot be ruled out. This would clearly be destructive to the site — aside from the damaged structure, the shock from an explosion could devastate the sensitive electronics found inside data servers, as well as disrupt power delivery and even activate fire suppression systems, leading to water damage to multiple units.
You may like Drones attack several AWS Middle East region data centers amid Iran war, leading to outages Iranian drone strikes hit three AWS data centers in the UAE and Bahrain Iran conflict delays Meta’s 2Africa undersea cable project This is likely costly for AWS: aside from having to allocate resources from other regions for displaced clients that were served by the Bahrain site, the company will have to shoulder the cost of any repairs or maintenance at the affected site, as most insurance policies usually do not cover acts of war. It’s for this reason that many companies in the region are declaring “force majeure,” saying that they’re unable to fulfill their obligations due to the risk brought about by the conflict.
It’s not only the infrastructure serving the Middle East region that has been affected by these events. Meta’s 2Africa undersea cable project has been delayed after Alcatel Submarine Networks, the firm laying the fiber optic cables in the Persian Gulf, declared that it can no longer safely operate in the area. Qatar’s helium production — which SK hynix relies on for cooling silicon wafers while they’re in production — has shut down after that Ras Laffan complex was reportedly targeted by drone strikes . Even specialized materials, like gallium, have been affected as production in the Middle East has been suspended due to the lack of gas supplies.
The conflict between the U.S., Israel, and Iran is about to reach a month, and, at the moment, there seems to be no end in sight. And even if the hostilities end today, it will take months, if not years, before the industry can repair the damage and get production back to pre-conflict levels and ease the shortages seen today.
Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News , or add us as a preferred source , to get our latest news, analysis, & reviews in your feeds.
Get Tom's Hardware's best news and in-depth reviews, straight to your inbox.
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/aws-bahrain-suffers-major-disruption-due-to-the-ongoing-us-iran-conflict-drone-activity-blamed-for-service-interruption#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com
- Thermal pads with in-built vapor-chambers claim 50 to 80 times better thermal conductivity than normal thermal pads — 1,200 W/m-K "Vapor-Pad" from Xerendipity d
- China laptop vendor eats humble pie, apology says ‘production error’ was behind chip mix-up — full refunds offered to those affected by the fake Ryzen 5 7430U ‘
- Seagate FireCuda 530R 2TB SSD Review: A stealthy workstation powerhouse
- Gigabyte X870 Aorus Stealth Motherboard Review: The gothy Goldilocks of rear-connect AM5 motherboards
- Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus review: The new best $200 CPU
Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.