Data Centres Now More Critical Than Infrastructure, Says UAE AI Minister

The UAE's Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Omar Sultan Al Olama, has emphasized the importance of data centres in modern society. In a recent conversation with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff at Dreamforce in San Francisco, Al Olama stated that data centres are now more critical than bridges or roads.

This sentiment stems from the UAE's experience during the recent war in the region. Both of Salesforce's data centers in the UAE were destroyed, forcing the company to recover as much as possible and set up a new backup data center outside the country. Amazon Web Services also reported that it cannot restore its Bahrain region or one UAE zone, six months after the strikes.

In response to this experience, Al Olama announced that the UAE will no longer promote the locations of data centers for fear of attracting potential threats. He expects other countries to follow suit and revise their rules accordingly.