Data centers, the core infrastructure of the artificial intelligence (AI) industry, have emerged as targets for Iranian attacks.

According to CNN on the 3rd (local time), Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has included data centers of U.S. companies such as Amazon, Google, Microsoft (MS), and NVIDIA in their targets since the beginning of the war.

Amazon's data center located in Bahrain is reported to have suffered severe damage from an Iranian missile attack late last month.

Iran cited the provision of cloud services to U.S. military intelligence agencies by U.S. tech companies like Amazon as the reason for the attacks.

In fact, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are participating in a cloud computing project promoted by the U.S. Department of Defense worth 9 billion dollars (approx. 12.8 trillion won).

The U.S. military is also known to have struck one Iranian data center.

Experts note that data centers have become targets of war because they serve both civilian and military purposes.

Andrew Reddie, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), said, "Data centers can handle military intelligence and civilian services simultaneously," adding that "from Iran's perspective, Amazon's data center is effectively no different from a U.S. military facility."

Concerns are also being raised that the AI industry development strategies pursued by Gulf nations could take a hit.

Saudi Arabia is making massive investments in the AI industry using a sovereign wealth fund worth 1 trillion dollars (approx. 1,430 trillion won), and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is pursuing a 500 billion dollar (approx. 715 trillion won) data center project with the U.S.

In addition, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have pledged a total of 2 trillion dollars (approx. 2,862 trillion won) in AI-related investments with the U.S.

However, analysts suggest that Iran's attacks targeting data centers could undermine market confidence in the safety of AI investments by Middle Eastern countries.

The insurance industry is also reportedly paying close attention to safety issues surrounding AI facilities in the Middle East.

Experts predict that insurance premiums for data centers in the Middle East could rise, alongside an increase in investment risk premiums.

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