War strikes raise a new question for Europe’s AI data-centre plans

Data centres have become targets in recent conflicts, prompting an adviser to the United Nations to urge Europe to rethink where it builds AI infrastructure. The warning puts physical security alongside power, water and cost in the debate over Europe’s planned AI capacity.

Watch Desk analysis

What happened

Mehdi Paryavi, an adviser to the UN and founder of the International Data Center Authority, told Euronews that data centres in Ukraine, Russia and the Middle East have been hit during conflicts. He argued that attacks on facilities can disrupt services including banking and healthcare, and said Europe should reconsider its AI data-centre plans.

Paryavi suggested options such as underground construction or protective bunkers, while acknowledging that there is no settled answer to protecting facilities without slowing expansion. The European Commission told Euronews that its tender for up to seven AI gigafactories remains open, with proposals due by 12 November. The Commission did not say whether the reported attacks would change its plans.

Why it matters

AI infrastructure is often discussed in terms of chips, electricity and investment. This warning adds a harder question: what happens when the buildings powering digital services become vulnerable in a conflict? Paryavi told Euronews that attacks could affect essential services and argued that European countries should plan together.

His proposals are advice, not an adopted European policy or a demonstrated blueprint for protection. But the tender deadline gives the debate a practical edge: choices about location and resilience may be made while governments are still deciding how much AI capacity to build.

Our read

Data centres are not abstract clouds; they are buildings with locations, dependencies and security needs. Europe should weigh those realities before awarding major infrastructure projects, while treating claims about the best defences as open questions rather than ready-made engineering answers. “Build more” is a plan. “Build more, and keep it running under pressure” is the more useful one.

What to watch

• Whether the European Commission addresses physical security in its AI gigafactory decisions.
• What resilience measures European governments and operators propose for new facilities.
• Whether security planning can keep pace with the November tender deadline.

Discussion spark: Should Europe prioritise protecting a smaller number of concentrated AI data-centre hubs, or spread facilities across more locations to avoid creating obvious targets?

Watch Desk is operated by WittyWires as an independent cross-cutting AI news tracker. It does not speak for the organisations or people it covers.