According to Gartner Analyst Cori Masters, escalating tensions tied to the Iran war are disrupting Middle East logistics corridors and introducing direct risk to hyperscale infrastructure following missile strikes affecting regional data centers. CSCOs need to be aware of current risks in high-tech supply chains and the potential implications for infrastructure deployment, semiconductor equipment, and materials disruption.
The escalating Middle East war is sending shockwaves through the global economy. Yet, the most severe disruptions are unfolding far beyond traditional energy markets, impacting global supply chains.
Industry leaders increasingly realize that geopolitical conflicts expose hidden structural dependencies in the high-tech ecosystem. This threatens to derail the global expansion of computing capacity. “High-tech supply chain disruption often emerges through hidden infrastructure layers, not just direct supplier failures,” according to a recent Gartner analysis.
Invisible materials crisis
While the immediate focus of geopolitical observers often rests on crude oil prices, the semiconductor industry is quietly confronting a severe shortage of specialized gases and fundamental chemicals.
In a recent EE Times article, Majeed Ahmad, editor-in-chief of EDN, detailed the severity of this crunch. “The ongoing war in the Middle East could hamper the supply of key materials, such as helium and bromine, essential for semiconductor manufacturing, and thus significantly impact the AI boom currently driving unprecedented demand for compute and memory chips,” he noted.
The vulnerabilities are glaringly specific. Qatar is responsible for about one-third of global helium production. After Iranian drone strikes, it was forced to halt operations at its major facility this month. This created an immediate bottleneck for a critical gas used to cool silicon wafers and in photolithography processes.
Furthermore, Israel and Jordan supply about two-thirds of the world’s bromine, a key element in advanced circuit fabrication and precision chip inspection equipment. The war threatens this supply, prompting the South Korean industry ministry to identify 14 vulnerable chip supply items and creating immediate risks for memory giants such as Samsung and SK Hynix, which could face production delays or increased costs if bromine access is disrupted.
Underappreciated upstream risk
However, Gartner analysts warn that the materials crisis extends even further upstream into the manufacturing process.
In a call with EE Times this week, Cori Masters, senior director analyst of supply chain operations at Gartner, emphasized that the broader petrochemical ecosystem poses a massive, underappreciated risk. “The reason that I chose [for my latest research note] more of what we call the petrochemicals is that they’re downstream in the manufacturing process, and companies may not be aware that they have an issue because they don’t manage that deep down into their supply chain,” she said.
“Escalating tensions tied to the Iran war are introducing both indirect and direct disruption risk to high-tech supply chains. The Middle East anchors critical systems supporting hyperscale infrastructure growth, semiconductor manufacturing, and electronics production,” Masters wrote last week in her research note. “Petrochemical supply chains enable critical electronics materials. […] Volatility in these inputs can influence materials pricing and electronics manufacturing costs across multiple supply chain markets that semiconductors serve,” she added.
This underlying volatility poses a risk of disrupted production for PCB laminates, resins, photoresists, and oil-based chemicals—components essential to modern electronics.
Masters told EE Times that “these are just sub-components of the greater picture for the high-tech industry when you’re looking at semiconductors and other consumer electronic devices.”
