Armenia achieves AI breakthrough in efforts to establish innovation hub

Armenia appears poised to become the AI innovation hub in Eurasia following a surprise announcement at a Paris AI developers conference that a newly minted San Francisco-based technology firm will launch a $500-million initiative in Yerevan.

Firebird.ai, a self-described AI cloud company that has launched quietly in San Francisco and Yerevan, is collaborating with the Armenian government in the venture, which was unveiled June 11 at Nvidia GTC Paris at VivaTech 2025, a premier gathering of AI developers. The tech behemoth Nvidia is also involved in the project. Telecom Armenia and the Dublin-based Imagine Broadband are expected to play supporting roles.

Negotiations were conducted in secret enabling the initiative to emerge “from stealth,” Firebird acknowledged in a statement. It is structured as a public-private partnership to launch an AI factory housing the “Caucasus’ first and largest AI supercomputer,” aiming to implement a “vision for building advanced AI infrastructure to accelerate technology innovation.”

The venture promises to get underway in 2026 using thousands of Nvidia-produced Blackwell graphics processing units (GPUs) capable of handling up to 100 megawatts of capacity, according to Firebird.

“This initiative will help grow the local technology ecosystem by bringing together high-performing infrastructure, talent, and innovation,” the statement said. “Firebird aims to support economic growth and help businesses, entrepreneurs, and academia stay ahead in the cutting-edge of AI.”

Saying the initiative was months in the making, Armenia’s minister of high technology, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, predicted it would “radically change the technological map of our region.”“The AI ​​data center will become a platform for innovation, education, science and entrepreneurship,” Hayrapetyan said in a social media post. “It will stimulate the development of local and international startups, ensure the connection of science and technology, and make Armenia a regional techno-hub, a place for the real creation of artificial intelligence.”In cementing the partnership, the Armenian government appeared to successfully enlist the support of tech entrepreneurs among the substantial Armenian Diaspora living in the United States. The venture stands to become a major accomplishment for Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s government in its efforts to retool the Armenian economy as part of the “Real Armenia” program.

“This is about building a launchpad for innovation — from Armenia to the world,” the Firebird statement quoted Razmig Hovaghimian, the company’s co-founder and CEO, as saying. “We will invest in novel models, in robotics and the sciences in partnership with leading universities from around the world and build the capacity to incubate the next generation of innovators in Armenia.”

Not much information is publicly available about Firebird. The company’s website comprises just a single page with no explanatory text. According to the Firebird statement, “the Afeyan Foundation for Armenia” is a major investor in the company. The foundation’s “principal” is Noubar Afeyan, founder of a venture capital firm, Flagship Pioneering, that was behind the launch of the biotech firm Moderna. The Firebird statement describes Arefan as a “strategic advisor” and “founding partner” of the company.

Nvidia’s participation in the venture would seem to infuse the project with substantial heft. The initiative also appears to have some backing from the US government: in a June 10 social media post by the US Embassy in Yerevan, Ambassador Kristina Kvien is pictured standing next to Nvidia executives in Yerevan. The accompanying text trumpets, “U.S.-Armenia tech cooperation is thriving!”