Armenian startup Firebird has received approval from the U.S. government to export advanced Nvidia graphics accelerators to Armenia. The permit paves the way for the creation of a large data processing center for artificial intelligence in the country — a project previously announced by Nvidia itself. Firebird co-founder Razmik Ovakimyan told Bloomberg about this.
The project involves the construction of a 100 MW AI computing cluster with initial investments of approximately $500 million. The infrastructure is based on Dell Technologies servers for AI tasks and the latest Nvidia solutions on the Blackwell architecture. The launch of the first phase is scheduled for the second quarter of 2026. According to Ovakimyan, this will be the first data processing center of this scale for artificial intelligence in the region.
About 20% of the computing power is planned to be provided to Armenian companies, with the remaining resources being commercially offered to international businesses. Financing for the first phase is provided through a combination of borrowed funds and Firebird's own capital. Key supporters of the project include Armenian-born entrepreneur and Moderna co-founder Noubar Afeyan.
The U.S. permit for chip supplies could be an important step towards turning Armenia into a regional hub for AI and high technology.
