How Nvidia, Google and Amazon are dealing with ‘Dubai challenge’ as employees stranded and office temporarily closed

Nvidia, Google, Amazon and other tech companies are scrambling to protect thousands of employees who have been caught in the middle of a rapidly deteriorating situation due to the escalating conflict in the Middle East following the war between US-Israel and Iran. The strikes from both the sides have disrupted civilian life, internet access, flight routes and energy shipments across the Middle-East. Earlier this week, the US State Department issued a stark warning, urging Americans to “depart now” from countries across the region using any available commercial transport.

Nvidia: Offices closed in Dubai; 6,000 employees in Israel

According to a report by CNBC, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sent a company-wide email confirming that the chipmaker had temporarily closed its Dubai offices, with staff now working remotely. He also said that Nvidia’s crisis management team has been “working around the clock” to support affected employees and their families — including approximately 6,000 Nvidia employees based in Israel.




“Nvidia has deep roots in the region. 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,” Huang wrote, as per CNBC.

In 2019, the company acquired Mellanox — an Israeli networking hardware firm — for $7.13 billion, the largest acquisition in Nvidia’s history at the time. Israel is Nvidia's largest research and development base outside the US.

Google: Employees stranded in Dubai

Google is also facing a logistical crisis as dozens of the company's employees are stranded in Dubai after attending the cloud division’s “Accelerate” sales conference held there last week. Most attendees managed to leave before the situation worsened, but a significant number remain stuck as airlines have cancelled flights across the region.

An internal memo sent to some Google cloud employees described the recent attacks as “concerning” and confirmed the company still had team members on the ground. Google told CNBC that the majority of those affected are not US-based but regional employees, and that it has security and safety measures in place.

“The situation in the Middle East is evolving rapidly and we are monitoring it carefully. Our focus is on the safety and well-being of our employees in the region,” a Google spokesperson was quoted as saying. Dubai serves as a major regional hub for Google’s cloud and sales operations across the Middle East and North Africa. The company is also in the process of expanding its Tel Aviv headquarters.

Amazon: Data centres struck by drones

For Amazon, the conflict has moved beyond a people problem. The company has reportedly instructed all corporate employees across the Middle East – with offices in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Egypt, Turkey and Israel – to work remotely and follow local government guidelines. Two Amazon Web Services data centres in the UAE were directly struck by drones over the weekend, while a facility in Bahrain sustained damage from a nearby drone strike.

As a result, several AWS services have continued to experience outages. AWS said in a statement: “Even as we work to restore these facilities, the ongoing conflict in the region means that the broader operating environment in the Middle East remains unpredictable.”

“The safety of our employees and partners remains our top priority,” an Amazon spokesperson added.

Meanwhile, Snapchat parent company Snap said that it has asked employees at its four Middle East offices to work remotely until further notice.