Amazon Foresees Extended Middle East Outages, Buys $427M Virginia AI Campus
Amazon expects extended service outages after drone strikes damaged two UAE data centers and one in Bahrain, potentially disrupting cloud revenue in the region. The company is acquiring George Washington University’s Ashburn campus for $427 million as part of its $35 billion Virginia data center and AI expansion plan.
1. Prolonged Middle East Data Center Outages
Amazon reported that drone attacks struck two data centers in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain, leading to expected extended service outages. The disruptions could impair cloud computing availability for regional customers and result in potential revenue shortfalls until full restoration.
2. Virginia Campus Acquisition for AI Expansion
The company is purchasing George Washington University’s Ashburn Science and Technology campus for $427 million through its Amazon Data Services unit. This deal supports its broader plan to invest $35 billion in Northern Virginia data centers and AI infrastructure by 2040, reinforcing its lead in cloud and AI services.