Shares of U.S. tech and AI giants including Meta, Microsoft and NVIDIA tumbled after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened military action against regional bases.
summation
- US tech stocks including Meta, Microsoft and Nvidia plunged after Iran designated 18 US companies as potential military targets.
- Outages at AWS data centers in the Middle East have impacted AI and cloud services, raising concerns about operational risks to critical infrastructure.
- AI-linked cryptocurrency tokens such as TAO, NEAR, and ICP fell 4-6% as geopolitical tensions spread to the digital asset market.
On April 1, 2026, the IRGC officially designated 18 American companies as “legitimate targets” in what Tehran described as retaliation for the targeted assassinations of key Iranian leaders by U.S. and Israeli forces. These include Alphabet (Google), Apple, Microsoft, Meta, NVIDIA, Intel, IBM, Oracle, Cisco, Dell, HP, Palantir, Boeing, Tesla, GE, JPMorgan Chase, G42, and Spire Solutions.
After the announcement, Meta stock prices fell 13.31%, while Microsoft and NVIDIA stock prices fell 8.34% and 6.00%, respectively.
This threat poses an immediate operational risk, with reports of drone activity causing power outages at two Amazon Web Services data centers in the Middle East. This disrupted AI and cloud services in the region and affected bank payment processors and consumer apps. In particular, Anthropic’s Claude AI platform reportedly went offline for a period of time due to its reliance on AWS infrastructure.
Iranian officials claim these ICT and AI companies are involved in tracking and identifying targets of ‘terrorist operations’ against Iranian leaders.
The U.S. administration has dismissed the threat, and White House officials have said U.S. forces are ready to deter a potential attack. Meanwhile, companies like Intel and Boeing have already implemented safety protocols for local employees amid increasing geopolitical and epidemiological risks to critical infrastructure.
News of attacks on AI-focused companies also rippled through AI-focused crypto assets that rely on the hardware and cloud ecosystems of NVIDIA and other giants.
Chainlink (LINK), the largest AI coin with a current market capitalization of over $6 billion, is down 5.8% in the last 24 hours, according to data from crypto.news. Bittensor (TAO), Near Protocol (NEAR), and Internet Computer (ICP) also recorded similar losses, ranging between 4-5%. Negative sentiment in the AI market has seen its market capitalization fall by more than 3% to $590 million at last check.
These assets are at risk of further losses if Iran launches further attacks, but a rebound across the sector could be possible if the United States eases the situation.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials contained on this page are for educational purposes only.