The shadow of the US-Israel conflict with Iran is impacting every corner of the global economy, from construction firms to coffee shop chains. Yet, amidst the spread of fear, one sector is defying the trend and experiencing a boom: data centers.
Soaring oil prices are severely impacting physical industries. Since the outbreak of the US-Israel war with Iran on February 28th, Brent crude prices have surged by nearly 73%, persistently hovering above $100 per barrel. This has delivered a severe blow to industries highly sensitive to energy costs.
Shares of companies like building materials supplier TopBuild and industrial equipment renter United Rentals have fallen significantly following the outbreak of hostilities. High energy costs are driving up expenses for transportation, logistics, and manufacturing, eroding corporate profits. Restaurant chains such as Starbucks are also under pressure, as high oil prices not only increase supply chain logistics costs but also act as a de facto tax on consumers, squeezing their disposable income.
Data Centers: A "Safe Haven" in Wartime While physical industries suffer widespread losses, data centers are experiencing an unexpected boom. The underlying logic is stark and direct: Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps has designated data centers, AI campuses, and other facilities associated with several US tech companies in the Middle East as "legitimate targets." On March 1st, Iran used drones to attack multiple Amazon Web Services data centers in the UAE and Bahrain, causing disruptions to core cloud services across the Middle East, with ripple effects impacting essential services like payments and ride-hailing.
This is forcing a large number of businesses to accelerate the migration of their data and applications from the dangerous Middle East region to safer areas like Europe. A "panic buying" spree for computing resources, combined with migration demands and rising operational costs driven by higher energy prices, is collectively pushing up the price of data center services and creating a surge in demand. Analysts note that this conflict is shifting corporate priorities from "cost efficiency first" to "security and resilience first."
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