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An Armenian $500-million initiative to develop an artificial intelligence and supercomputer hub has taken a major step forward after US regulators approved the transfer of advanced Nvidia chips.
The project is being developed by Firebird, an AI startup launched in June with offices in San Francisco and Yerevan, in collaboration with the Armenian government.
At a November 20 news conference, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan revealed that he personally lobbied US President Donald Trump for help in expediting the chip-transfer approval process, framing the matter as part of the provisional peace deal brokered by Trump and signed by Armenia and Azerbaijan in August at the White House.
“I am glad and grateful that the White House responded quickly and appropriately. As a result, the project will now confidently move forward,” Pashinyan told journalists.
The Armenian AI hub will receive Nvidia Blackwell GPUs, which the company describes a chip that “defines the next chapter in generative AI with unparalleled performance, efficiency, and scale.” Also on November 20, Michael Dell announced via social media that his company will be supplying PowerEdge servers. Dell lauded the venture as “advancing responsible AI innovation across both nations.”
Pashinyan, meanwhile, has characterized the Firebird project as having “significant strategic importance” for Armenia’s economic development by establishing the country as an AI and IT leader in the Caucasus. In the national security realm, the AI project could potentially help Armenia regain strategic parity with Azerbaijan, after Baku, via its superiority in the use of battlefield drones, inflicted a decisive defeat on Armenia during the Second Karabakh War.
According to a statement issued by Firebird, the venture aims to blend “entrepreneurial vision, world-class infrastructure, and global collaboration to unlock new opportunities for innovation and growth.”
The project’s first phase is expected to launch in mid-2026. The 100-Megawatt data center will consume an annual amount of electricity equivalent to that used by a city of roughly 120,000 residents. Such a facility can also require over 500,000 gallons of water per day for cooling.
The parent company of Telecom Armenia and Ireland’s Imagine Broadband are involved in creating the infrastructure for the data center.
Firebird does not have much of a track record. The Afeyan Foundation for Armenia is listed in the company’s statement as “the founding investor.” The foundation’s “principal” is a venture capitalist, Noubar Afeyan, who played an important role in launching of the biotech firm Moderna.
