Stories
Trump's Nvidia Deal Transforms Armenia into AI Powerhouse, Fuels Peace Efforts
- •Armenia, once a Soviet tech hub, is becoming a major AI center due to a deal involving Nvidia chips and a San Francisco startup, Firebird.
- •Firebird's data center in Hrazdan, set to house over 70,000 Nvidia chips, will be among Europe's largest, with a fifth of its power reserved for domestic use.
- •The Nvidia deal, facilitated by the Trump administration, played a role in advancing peace talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan, linking chip exports to diplomatic goals.
- •Armenia has actively sought to strengthen ties with the West and reduce reliance on Russia, imposing strict export controls on electronics to avoid Western sanctions.
- •Despite initial US concerns about Russian influence, Armenia's efforts to build a tech foundation and secure chip export licenses are now paying off, attracting significant AI investment.
Key Questions Answered
A San Francisco-based startup called Firebird began operating a data center in Hrazdan, Armenia, designed to reach 300 megawatts and over 70,000 Nvidia chips. Twenty percent of its computing power is allocated for domestic research and startups, while the remainder serves foreign firms like Perplexity AI, transforming the nation into a major computing cluster.
President Donald Trump's team used the promise of Nvidia chip export permissions as leverage to advance diplomatic discussions, helping facilitate a historic US-brokered preliminary peace accord between Armenia and Azerbaijan. This agreement paves the way for the strategic Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity transport corridor.
Armenia's engagement with Nvidia dates back to 2019 when Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the chipmaker's Santa Clara office. Nvidia later established its presence in Armenia in 2022 by evacuating engineers from Moscow, and CEO Jensen Huang visited the country in 2023.
