19 March 2026 – Article by Capacity Media
Blocked shipping routes and soaring energy costs could leave data centre operators to rethink infrastructure risk and resilience in the Middle East.
Energy prices continue to spike and supply chains keep being disrupted, as the Iran-US war continues. It has been suggested, after markets have become more unpredictable, that essential infrastructure like data centres could be impacted further by the conflict.
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The wider energy picture: Calls for greater resilience in Europe
Impact is already being felt further afield, as prices rise amid market uncertainty – including in Europe, which, after Russia invaded Ukraine, committed to phasing out reliance on Russian gas, oil and coal to become more energy independent. However, a dependence on gas remains.
Europe relies strongly on Norway and the US for its energy, sparking concerns over the region’s long-term energy security.
Tesh Durvasula, CEO of AtlasEdge Data Centres, said the current conflict is only amplifying how closely linked Europe’s digital economy is with energy prices.
“In the face of rising costs, the priority for the data centre industry has to be resilience,” he said. “It’s important that operators double down on efficiency, diversify energy sources and strengthen long-term planning in order to continue operating reliably and deliver the capacity the market is demanding.”
He added: “This is a defining moment for the European data centre industry to prove it can deliver for customers in an unpredictable global environment.”
Long-term, there have been calls for Europe to think more critically about how to build energy stockpiles or reorganise energy consumption to have greater control when supply chains are disrupted.
It remains to be seen if the ongoing Iran-US war will be the catalyst for this to take place.
It’s clear that the Gulf is already playing a significant role in the global data economy, but will industry leaders and international investors now take into account heightened risks and energy insecurity when looking to build?
This article was first published in Capacity. Read the original article here.
About AtlasEdge
AtlasEdge designs, builds and operates highly secure, scalable data centres across 14 strategic locations in Europe. Formed as a joint venture between Liberty Global and DigitalBridge, we’re focusing on the next wave of markets including Lisbon, Vienna, Barcelona, Madrid, Brussels and multiple cities across Germany.
Our proven modular-based construction enables rapid deployments under 10MW, while we continue to develop larger campuses, with a target of more than 500MW in our powered landbank by the end of 2026.
Since 2021, AtlasEdge customers have deployed AI, cloud and mission-critical workloads in our 2N facilities, using liquid-to-chip or air-cooled designs. All new builds run on 100% renewable energy. Our tax, legal and site-selection teams also support customers entering new European regions, helping them navigate regulatory, commercial and technical requirements with confidence.