Tech giant, soft at heart? As if, dear! (5,2,2,3)

'if dear' is the definition.
I know nothing about this answer so I cannot tell whether this works.

'tech giant soft at heart?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'soft' could be 'pp' (musical abbreviation for pianissimo) and 'pp' is located in the answer.
'heart?' could be 'eye' (synonyms) and 'eye' is located in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

'as' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?