AI Center Aiming to Become One of Europe’s Largest Launches in Armenia

In August, the American startup Firebird launched an AI-focused data center in Hrazdan, located approximately 45 kilometers from Yerevan. The company plans to scale the facility's capacity to 300 MW and install over 70,000 Nvidia chips by the end of 2027.

About one-fifth of the computing resources is earmarked for Armenian scientists, startups, and government agencies, while the remaining capacity will serve international clients—including the US-based Perplexity AI.

Nvidia and Dell Technologies are participating in the project. Although the data center was initially planned with a 100 MW capacity, the project's scale was subsequently tripled. According to Bloomberg, the long-term cost could exceed $5 billion.

The supply of Nvidia chips to Armenia is part of broader agreements between Yerevan and Washington. *The Wall Street Journal* reported that US negotiators used access to advanced AI chips as an economic incentive to help advance a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Officials in Yerevan refer to these semiconductor and AI agreements with the US as "peace dividends."

Firebird intends to continue expanding beyond Armenia, with new projects under consideration in Central Asia. Kazakhstan has become the company's next market; in Ekibastuz, Firebird is partnering with the operator Kazakhtelecom to develop "Data Center Valley," a 125 MW AI computing complex. The project has secured the necessary permits from Kazakh authorities, and the US has approved the export of the relevant technologies.

Firebird aims to bring the total capacity of its projects across Armenia, Kazakhstan, and other countries to 2 GW by the end of 2028.

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