Concerns about the broader impact of conflict in the Middle East are beginning to surface across multiple areas of the global technology industry, from semiconductor supply chains and cybersecurity threats to large-scale investments in gaming infrastructure.

A senior executive at Seagate Technology Holdings has said the conflict is unlikely to significantly disrupt the technology supply chain in the short term, despite investor concerns that the war could begin to choke off the supply of critical materials such as helium.

There’s growing fears that a prolonged conflict could worsen already tight supplies of memory chips and storage devices .

The situation has weighed on sentiment around Seagate Technology Holdings and rival Western Digital, which together supply the majority of hard drives used for long-term storage in data centres and personal computers. Both companies have warned that their hard drives are sold out for 2026.

“At this point, we have resiliency in our supply chain that is buffering us from any short-term impact,” Seagate Chief Commercial Officer Ban Seng Teh said in an interview on Bloomberg TV, adding that Seagate is exploring “several other options,” to shore up its supplies.

However, disruption to global helium production is already being closely monitored. The shutdown of liquefied natural gas production at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar has taken about a third of global helium production offline, according to estimates from Bloomberg Economics.

Helium plays an important role in semiconductor manufacturing and has no readily available substitute, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Michael Deng.

“If the disruption persists beyond the next several weeks, helium shortages could force chipmakers to allocate even more production capacity toward AI memory and deepen an already severe memory shortage,” Deng said. Production of high-capacity hard drives also requires helium.

Demand for storage hardware is already increasing sharply as companies and governments race to build new data centres to support AI workloads, widely seen as a strategic technology that could determine both corporate and geopolitical advantage.

Tech Supply Chain Far From the Only Thing at Risk

Beyond supply chains, the conflict is also raising concerns among investors involved in the Middle East’s growing gaming and entertainment sector.

Executives at Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of Public Investment Fund in Saudi Arabia, acknowledged that the escalation could affect perceptions of the region as a stable destination for investment and tourism.

“It’s obviously not helpful for the region to have this escalation and it will change probably or cool the perception of it as being a stable and quiet place where people want to go,” Savvy Games Group Chief Executive Officer Brian Ward said during an interview at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.

Despite the current tensions, Ward said he believes the region will remain attractive to investors and consumers over the longer term. “Hopefully it will be short lived and we’ll get back to business,” he said.

Savvy is pursuing an ambitious strategy to transform Saudi Arabia into a global gaming hub, backed by a $38 billion investment programme aimed at attracting the world’s 3.6 billion gamers.

Plans include the creation of a dedicated gaming district within Qiddiya City, an entertainment development under construction near Riyadh. The project has been described as “the first city built for play”, featuring amusement parks, golf courses, creative studios and arenas designed to host esports competitions.

Saudi Arabia’s broader tourism strategy around gaming and esports has already shown signs of traction. The Esports World Cup attracted three million visitors during its seven-week run in 2025.

However, the kingdom’s efforts to position itself as a global hub for gaming and entertainment have also attracted criticism from human rights groups, who point to Saudi Arabia’s record on civil liberties, including laws that criminalise homosexuality.

Savvy has invested more than $13 billion to date, including $2 billion in esports infrastructure. The company is also focused on developing domestic game studios and attracting international talent to the country. Its Steer Studios operation in Riyadh currently employs around 90 people.

One of Savvy’s objectives is “to try and encourage foreign investment” in the Saudi games industry and “to get big companies to move there, bring leadership and create jobs,” Ward said.

The kingdom’s geopolitical position could also give it a role in bridging both Western and Chinese gaming markets, particularly as US officials examine the video-game business of Tencent over potential security concerns.

Ward said that currently 35% of Savvy’s revenue comes from eastern markets, with ambitions to increase that share to 50%.

Separately, the Public Investment Fund is the lead investor in a $55 billion buyout of Electronic Arts, the company behind video game franchises such as Battlefield, The Sims and Madden NFL. The deal is expected to close “sometime this summer,” Ward said, adding that Savvy is not directly involved but that it is a “possibility” Electronic Arts could move under Savvy in the future.

Conflict Opens Door to Nation State Attackers

Cybersecurity researchers say the geopolitical tensions may also be reflected in an increase in state-linked cyber activity.

A new hacking campaign attributed to the Iranian-linked group MuddyWater has targeted several organisations in the United States and Canada, according to researchers at Broadcom’s Symantec and Carbon Black Threat Hunter Team.

The campaign began in early February and has continued following US and Israeli military strikes on Iran. Potential victims include a US bank, a US airport, non-governmental organisations in both the United States and Canada, and the Israeli operation of a US software company that supplies the defence and aerospace sectors.

Each of the organisations experienced suspicious activity on their networks in recent weeks, according to a report published on March 5.

Researchers identified a previously unknown backdoor, dubbed ‘Dindoor’, which was discovered on the networks of the Israeli operation of the software company, a US bank and a Canadian non-profit organisation.

The malware was signed using a certificate issued to “Amy Cherne” and uses Deno, a runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript, to execute.

Investigators also observed an attempt to exfiltrate data from the software company using Rclone, a command-line programme used to manage files on cloud storage. The data was targeted for transfer to a cloud storage bucket operated by Wasabi Technologies, although it remains unclear whether the attempt was successful.

A separate Python-based backdoor known as ‘Fakeset’ was discovered on the US airport’s network. It was signed using certificates issued to “Amy Cherne” and “Donald Gay”.

Recommended reading

• Oversight Board Slams Meta for Overlooking Fake AI Posts About Iran Conflict
• NCSC Warns UK Business to Prepare for Iranian Cyber-attacks
• DDoS Attacks Surged in 2025 As Hacktivism Emerges

The Donald Gay certificate has previously been used to sign malware associated with MuddyWater, a hacking group active since 2017 and linked to Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security. The group has also been referred to by researchers as Seedworm, Temp Zagros and Static Kitten.

The same certificate has also been used to sign malware samples associated with the Stagecomp family, which downloads another backdoor known as Darkcomp. Security vendors including Google, Microsoft and Kaspersky have previously linked those tools to MuddyWater.

Although the Stagecomp and Darkcomp malware were not observed on the affected networks, researchers said the reuse of the same certificates strongly suggests MuddyWater’s involvement.

“While we have disrupted these breaches, other organisations could still be vulnerable to attack,” the researchers added.