Top tech firms, including Nvidia and Amazon, have urged employees in Dubai to work remotely amid the ongoing conflict in West Asia after joint US-Israel strikes on Iran over the weekend.
Chip giant Nvidia temporarily shut down its Dubai offices and had employees work remotely, according to a CNBC report citing an email sent by CEO Jensen Huang to all employees early Tuesday.
Huang said in his memo that Nvidia’s crisis management team has been “working around the clock and actively supporting affected employees and their families” in the region, including around 6,000 Nvidia employees based in Israel.
“Nvidia has deep roots in the region,” says Huang
Huang was quoted as saying that, as of Tuesday morning, all Nvidia employees affected by the conflict and their immediate families were safe.
“Nvidia has deep roots in the region,” the report quoted Huang. “Thousands of our colleagues live there, and many more across the globe have family and friends affected by these events. Like you, I am watching with great concern for the safety of our Nvidia families.”
Amazon’s advisory for employees
Amazon has instructed all of its corporate employees in the region to work remotely and “follow local government guidelines,” the report said.
The e-commerce giant operates corporate offices in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Turkey and Israel. It also operates warehouses and data centres across the region, as well as “quick commerce outlets” in the UAE to facilitate 15-minute deliveries.
“The safety of our employees and partners remains our top priority, and we are working closely with local teams and local authorities to ensure they are supported,” the report quoted an Amazon spokesperson’s statement.
Notably, Amazon’s cloud division, AWS, announced on Monday that drone strikes affected its facilities in the UAE and Bahrain during the conflict. Furthermore, the company’s cloud data centres in the Middle East experienced power outages and connectivity problems following an attack by unidentified “objects” on its UAE data centre, Mint earlier reported.
Amazon has closed its fulfilment centre in Abu Dhabi and suspended deliveries across the region as the e-commerce giant responds to the escalating instability in the Middle East, which has created ripples across the region and the world, according to a report by Business Insider.
Meanwhile, the US State Department on Monday said that Americans should “depart now” from countries via commercial transportation, due to “serious safety risks.” By Tuesday afternoon, the department reported efforts to arrange military and charter flights to evacuate Americans as the region’s instability worsened.