U.S. technology giants Nvidia (NVDA) and Amazon (AMZN) have closed their offices across the Middle East as war rages in the region.
Nvidia announced that it has temporarily closed its offices in Dubai, with employees there working remotely.
Amazon, which had two of its Middle East data centres knocked offline by drone strikes, is altering its operations in the region, telling employees to work remotely.
Other technology companies, such as Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL), are trying to evacuate their employees who are based in or traveling through the Middle East.
Analysts say the situation underscores how U.S.-based technology companies have positioned their operations in the Middle East in recent years, capitalizing on abundant energy sources.
In 2019, Nvidia acquired Mellanox, an Israeli company that makes ethernet switches, for $7.13 billion U.S., the largest deal in Nvidia’s history at the time.
Today, outside of America, Israel represents Nvidia’s largest research and development (R&D) base.
The U.S. State Department recently said that Americans should “depart now” from countries across the Middle East using commercial transportation, citing “serious safety risks.”
However, Alphabet has said that dozens of its employees remain stranded in Dubai after a sales conference and are unable to get flights back home.
Alphabet’s cloud computing unit held its “Accelerate” sales conference in Dubai last week.
Following the attack on Iran by the U.S. and Israel, airlines canceled more than 11,000 Middle East flights.
Dubai is a regional hub for Google’s cloud computing and sales operations in the Middle East and North Africa.
Amazon operates corporate offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, and Israel, as well as multiple data centres.
NVDA stock has risen 55% over the last 12 months to trade at $180.05 U.S. a share.
