Armenia is actively seeking to become one of the key AI hubs for U.S. infrastructure. In August, San Francisco startup Firebird roll out The country has a 15-megawatt artificial intelligence data center, which will grow to 70,000 advanced accelerators and 300 megawatts of electricity by the end of next year. 20% of the computing power will be reserved for local users, and the rest will be given to foreign companies, including American companies such as Perplexity AI, Report Bloomberg.
The complex, located in the city of Hrazdan, 45 kilometers from Yerevan, is preparing to become the largest computing cluster in the region and one of the largest in Europe. The company is expanding its presence in the South Caucasus and Central Asia – areas where big players are racing to create an economic corridor that bypasses Russia and connects Europe to China.
According to some reports, the deal involving Nvidia chips illustrates Trump’s unconventional approach to manipulating export licenses for artificial intelligence technology during negotiations. The Trump administration has used Biden’s restrictions on one hand and criticized them on the other, showing flexibility in doing so to achieve political goals.
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NVIDIA moved some developers from Moscow to an office in Yerevan in February 2022. In October 2022, the Biden administration effectively banned China and Russia from purchasing advanced artificial intelligence chips based on U.S. technology. Washington was concerned about Russia’s ability to obtain U.S. parts and equipment through the country and soon began demanding special export licenses to supply artificial intelligence accelerators to Armenia and more than 40 other countries. Even up to 64 NVIDIA H100 It took more than a year at that time. Now, in addition to Firebird, he is also implementing his own projects elvit artificial intelligence.
Large data centers still require US licensing. Although Trump has loosened export policies in this area, the rules introduced in 2023 will remain largely unchanged while a new global export regulatory system is developed. The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, for example, cannot obtain licenses to buy chips until they agree to rules that directly restrict China’s access to these technologies.
Firebird NVIDIA and its partners have requested approval to purchase NVIDIA accelerators in early 2025, months before the company officially launches them. The first batch will be received in August 2025. At the end of 2025, there was news that the United States officially recognized Exports advanced artificial intelligence chips to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Armenia. Firebird has been approved to provide more than twice as many accelerators as the richer Humain. The significant difference, however, is that in the Middle East, most of the wafers will be for domestic use rather than serving U.S. companies.
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