Gulf region's AI computing expansion faces communications risks as Iran threatens to strike undersea cables.

BlockBeats news, October 24 — Two senior Iranian security officials revealed that Iran has drawn up plans to strike undersea communications cables in the Gulf if the United States and Israel launch another attack, with one of them saying it would also prevent repairs to prolong communications disruptions. Officials of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously threatened that if Iran's infrastructure is attacked, it could strike seven major internet cables beneath the Strait of Hormuz.

The related threats add new communications risks to cloud computing and AI infrastructure in the Gulf region. Reuters said Iran's earlier attacks had hit two Amazon AWS facilities in the UAE and damaged infrastructure near one of its facilities in Bahrain. Analysts noted that simultaneous damage to multiple cables could disrupt financial transactions, e-commerce and cloud computing services, but the actual impact would depend on traffic rerouting capabilities and backup line capacity. International bandwidth passing through the Strait of Hormuz accounts for less than 1% of the global total, so the direct impact on global communications may be limited.

Microsoft, meanwhile, plans to invest more than $10 billion in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait by 2030, and to invest more than $400 million to improve undersea and terrestrial network connectivity in the Middle East to strengthen the resilience of digital infrastructure.