U.S. technology and AI giants’ stocks, such as Meta, Microsoft, and NVIDIA, crashed after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps threatened military action against their regional bases.

On April 1, 2026, the IRGC officially designated 18 U.S. companies as “legitimate targets” described by Tehran as retaliation for the targeted assassination of major Iranian leaders by the 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

Following the announcement, Meta shares dropped by 13.31% while Microsoft and NVIDIA shares dropped by 8.34% and 6.00%, respectively.

The threats have translated into immediate operational risks with reports of drone activity causing power failures at two Amazon Web Services data centers in the Middle East, which have disrupted AI and cloud services in the region, affecting banking payment processors and consumer apps. Notably, Anthropic’s Claude AI platform reportedly went offline for a period because it relies on AWS infrastructure.

Iranian officials allege that these ICT and AI companies are complicit in tracking and identifying targets for “terrorist operations” against Iranian leaders.

For its part, the U.S. administration has dismissed the threats, with White House officials stating the U.S. military is prepared to thwart any potential aggression. Meanwhile, companies like Intel and Boeing have already implemented safety protocols for regional staff amid the escalating geopolitical and kinetic risk to critical infrastructure.

AI cryptos feel the heat as market jitters spread

The news of the attack on AI-focused companies also rippled onto AI-focused crypto assets, which rely on the hardware and cloud ecosystems of NVIDIA and other giants that have come under fire.

According to data from crypto.news, Chainlink (LINK), currently the largest AI coin with a market cap of over $6 billion, has fell 5.8% over the past 24 hours. Bittensor (TAO), Near Protocol (NEAR), and Internet Computer (ICP) also recorded nearly similar losses between 4% and 5%. Together, the negative sentiment in the AI market led its market capitalization to drop over 3% to $0.59 billion at last check.

While these assets remain at risk of further losses if Iran starts carrying out more strikes, a sector-wide rebound could be in the cards if the U.S. manages to de-escalate the situation.