Data centres have become prime military targets and the drone strikes in Ukraine should force Europe to rethink where it builds its AI infrastructure, one expert says.
Data centres in Ukraine, Russia and the Middle East have become crucial targets in conflict that can temporarily bring down a country’s economy and public facilities such as banks and hospitals.
Russia has struck data centres in Kyiv and Ukrainian drones hit back at multiple data centres in Russia in recent weeks, in attacks Kyiv has described as aimed at places that provide revenue streams for Moscow’s war machine.
The military targeting of data centres should prompt Europe to rethink where it builds its AI infrastructure, said Mehdi Paryavi, an adviser to the United Nations and founder of the International Data Center Authority (IDCA) think tank.
“When you hit enough important targets, you can take down the entire economy,” he told Euronews Next.
