alt.hn

3/31/2026 at 6:03:01 PM

Iran says it will target US tech companies in Middle East

 https://thehill.com/policy/technology/5809104-iran-irgc-apple-microsoft-google-hp-meta-tesla/

by golfer

3/31/2026 at 6:27:11 PM

Do any of those US tech companies have large manufacturing footprints in the region? Intel has a couple of fabs in Israel, but presumably those are on the smaller side? Nvidia's work in the region is mostly R&D, isn't it?

In any case, though manufacturing may not be too badly affected, if the Iranians can pull this off, they would discourage further investment in Israel and raise the economic costs of the war for the US, which would be an geostrategic Iranian win of the "low hanging fruit" variety.

by A_D_E_P_T

3/31/2026 at 7:12:20 PM

> US tech companies have large manufacturing footprints in the region

Yes in Israel and part of the West Bank (the Mellanox founder tried to expand Nvidia's footprint in the region - as in hiring in the West Bank and Gaza - until his daughter was murdered at Nova).

Outside of Israel, not really excluding data centers which are leased.

That said, most tech companies have already been operating in Israel for decades under constant barrages already (eg. Had a family friend who was working at the Intel fab when Hezbollah was attempting to shell it during the 2006 war and the AWS skyscraper was targeted by an ISIS suicide bomber 2 years ago but foiled).

In most cases, we in the US were already being targeted by Iranian APTs before this conflict and before 2023.

> if the Iranians can pull this off, they would discourage further investment in Israel

For much of tech, the calculus hasn't changed for investing in Israel. It's hard to find similar ecosystems for cybersecurity, defense tech, chip design, and some aspects of material sciences.

And those regions that are complementary (eg. Czechia, Poland, India), the companies are either Israeli operated or Israeli funded.

by alephnerd

3/31/2026 at 8:41:26 PM

> the Mellanox founder tried to expand Nvidia's footprint in the region until his daughter was murdered at Nova

Hopefully he sees now that it is not safe to work with Israel.

by Computer0

3/31/2026 at 8:43:37 PM

[dead]

by gulfofamerica

3/31/2026 at 6:18:57 PM

Has anyone else been having major reliability issues in me-south-1 since the attacks there? I've had to field several inquiries at work where the answer seems to be "sorry, there's a war on -- pick a different region".

by ElevenLathe

3/31/2026 at 6:44:43 PM

Yes. Both me-south-1 and me-central-1 have been _heavily_ impacted/disrupted for nearly a month now due to drone strikes on infra.

by jprd

3/31/2026 at 6:21:18 PM

as if they weren't targeting anything valuable already.

by PHGamer

3/31/2026 at 6:45:20 PM

as if they started the war, as if they killed their leaders themselves. Ofc they are being boomed in the desert, have not lost anything. US and Isreal has the most valuable things or only them considered human beings? Oh, rest of the people living in the world, they should be grateful to US and Isreal to let them live.

by foragerdev

3/31/2026 at 6:49:36 PM

[flagged]

by SirFatty

3/31/2026 at 6:52:17 PM

The iranian government/IRGC isn't innocent but remember that its the regular people, the working class of Iran that is actually suffering further because of hostilities initiated by US/Israel

by sheikhnbake

3/31/2026 at 7:16:08 PM

> remember that its the regular people, the working class of Iran that is actually suffering further because of hostilities initiated by US/Israel

This is true of any war. That’s damning for the party that starts a war of choice. But it’s no vindication for the regime that’s built itself up as a regional pest, including sponsor of actual terrorism against ordinary people, for years.

by JumpCrisscross

3/31/2026 at 6:52:39 PM

yes, rascal Iran, placed itself in the middle of US Airbases.

by foragerdev

3/31/2026 at 6:24:31 PM

The problem with accepting military work is that foreign governments will now consider you a legitimate military target.

by pm90

3/31/2026 at 7:17:17 PM

> foreign governments will now consider you a legitimate military target

Iran has been very liberal with what it considers military targets. There is no evidence rejecting military work has protected anyone from it.

by JumpCrisscross

3/31/2026 at 8:40:02 PM

well dance festival is a 'military target' to them

by sysguest

3/31/2026 at 8:44:20 PM

If I found a group of terrorist sympathizers invading my property and dancing on it I wouldn't be very empathetic to them.

by Computer0

3/31/2026 at 9:13:00 PM

> If I found a group of terrorist sympathizers invading my property and dancing on it I wouldn't be very empathetic to them

But it would be your choice to commit terrorism back at them. Plenty of people across history have chosen both ways. It tends to go much better for one group over the other.

by JumpCrisscross

3/31/2026 at 7:55:39 PM

The Iranians have considered anyone doing business with the Israelis a "legitimate military target" since 1979.

by laughing_man

3/31/2026 at 8:43:34 PM

To be fair I consider those people doing business with israelis legitimate military targets as well.

by Computer0

3/31/2026 at 6:46:11 PM

Better for public relations than hitting oil and gas, if they manage no casualties.

I'm sure some people will paraphrase Radoslav Sikorski: "Thank you, Iran!"

by blhcar

3/31/2026 at 8:31:22 PM

WTF, i'm going to get paged because some Iranian dude wants to take out a fiber line?

by VirusNewbie

3/31/2026 at 9:41:15 PM

[delayed]

by drekipus

3/31/2026 at 8:52:08 PM

[dead]

by aaron695