Military risk has become key for data centers — OilPrice
War and geopolitical instability are becoming increasingly important risks for data center operators, while the boundaries between cyber risk, property and war risk insurance are becoming less clear. OilPrice reports, citing a report by insurance broker Howden.
Infrastructure near conflicts
According to Howden's estimates, in 2025, the area of data centers located within 10–15 kilometers of active conflict zones worldwide accounted for approximately 60% of the cumulative figure for the previous five years. The report links this to the expansion of digital infrastructure near territories affected by war.
As the article notes, during the early stages of the U.S. war in Iran, Iranian drones struck five separate data centers in the UAE and Bahrain. Howden described these attacks as the first deliberate targeting of commercial data centers during wartime.
Howden believes that the insurance market must align policy wording and conduct thorough assessments of cyber-physical risks, as physical and digital threats are increasingly intersecting.
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Claims and environmental disputes
The development of infrastructure for artificial intelligence is accompanied by a rise in legal claims. The number of major lawsuits related to data centers increased from four during all of 2021 to 14 in the first half of 2026, the Howden report says.
The main causes of disputes were planning and environmental issues. Complaints about noise and inconvenience for residents, including due to diesel generator emissions and water consumption, accounted for 78% of the increase in liability cases in the sector over the past three years.
There are approximately 3,300 to 3,500 data centers in Europe, with the largest numbers in Germany and the United Kingdom. British energy regulator Ofgem has already expressed concern that speculative data center projects are overloading the country's power grid.
Edward Howland Jackson, Chief Commercial Officer of Global Specialty at Howden, said that the artificial intelligence boom is driving significant global investment in data centers, but the related risks are becoming increasingly complex and diverse.
