AWS hit headlines after drone strikes damaged data centers in the Middle East and a major outage disrupted global services for 15 hours.
Multiple AWS data centers in the UAE and Bahrain were damaged by drone strikes amid escalating Middle East tensions. The attacks caused structural damage, power disruptions, and water damage, prompting urgent customer migration advice. Recovery is underway, but regional instability raises concerns for cloud infrastructure security.
Since March 2026, Iran-linked hackers have targeted US critical infrastructure by compromising programmable logic controllers (PLCs) used in water, energy, and government sectors. The FBI, CISA, NSA, and others have issued urgent warnings about disruptions and financial losses. Separately, Russian APT28 has hijacked thousands of routers globally to intercept credentials, escalating cyber threats.
OpenAI has revised its cloud partnership with Microsoft, making OpenAI’s models available across any major cloud provider and stripping exclusive revenue-sharing obligations through 2030. Microsoft remains a primary partner through 2032, but the license is now non-exclusive. The change unfolds ahead of a high-profile Musk-led legal case and amid competing cloud interests from Amazon and others.
Meta has reported a milestone quarter with revenue up 33% to $56.31 billion and earnings of $10.44 per share in Q1. The company cites momentum across its apps and the first model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, while guiding for Q2 revenue of $58–$61 billion and capital expenditure up to $125–$145 billion as it expands AI infrastructure and talent; headcount stands at about 78,000 after a 10% layoff previously.
The Defense Department has reached agreements with multiple AI firms to augment warfighter decision-making in complex environments. OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, SpaceX, Microsoft and Amazon Web Services are among the partners, with Anthropic excluded amid a dispute over guardrails. Officials say the move speeds decision-making while preserving human oversight and civil liberties.