Armenia Opens Region’s Largest AI Factory Backed by US License
Armenia recently unveiled the CIS region’s biggest AI factory, operated by US-based AI cloud company Firebird, in Hrazdan, Armenia. This significant development was marked by the attendance of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev, and David Allen, the US Chargé d’Affaires in Armenia.
The key factor enabling this project is a US export license secured by Firebird in November 2025, allowing advanced NVIDIA hardware to be imported into Armenia. This move comes on the heels of a joint announcement between Firebird and the US government during Vice President JD Vance’s visit to Yerevan in February.
The Factory Specifications
The newly opened DC-1 facility boasts 6,144 NVIDIA B200 GPUs, liquid-cooled across 15 megawatts, adhering to NVIDIA’s reference architecture. The target is ambitious: scaling up to 70,000 Rubin and Blackwell GPUs and 300 megawatts by the end of 2027.
This rapid expansion is remarkable, achieving operating capacity in just over six months from design. Schneider Electric contributed switchgear, UPS systems, and rack enclosures, while Vertiv provided chilled-water cooling.
Power Efficiency
Firebird leverages NVIDIA’s DSX platform, which integrates compute, networking, power, and cooling for up to 40% more GPUs in the same footprint by harnessing stranded power. This innovation is crucial for managing the facility’s massive power demand.
Financing and Investment
NVIDIA has made substantial commitments to AI equity positions in 2026, including a $2.1 billion warrant in IREN for a five-gigawatt data center deal. Similar strategies are employed in their sovereign deals, such as a $1 billion investment in Naver coupled with a $500 billion arrangement with SK Group.
Firebird follows a similar playbook by securing investments from NVIDIA after its initial backing from CoreWeave. CoreWeave has already partnered with Anthropic to run Claude at production scale, while Europe has its equivalent in Nscale committing €695 million.