U.S. startup Firebird is building a 300MW data center in Armenia, with plans to host more than 70,000 Nvidia Corp. chips by 2027, according to a Bloomberg report by Mackenzie Hawkins1,2. The project follows a pledge by Trump to approve Nvidia chip exports to Armenia.
Bloomberg characterized the deal as turning Armenia into a "surprising AI hotspot". During the Cold War, the Soviet Union's smallest republic served as an electronics and technology center for the Communist superpower.
The project's viability hinges on the Trump administration's export-approval pledge: without a license, shipping that volume of advanced Nvidia hardware to Armenia would not be possible under current U.S. semiconductor export controls.
ANALYSIS The arrangement pairs a presidential export commitment with a specific private-sector buildout, tying U.S. foreign-policy leverage over chip flows directly to a named infrastructure project rather than a broad country-level allocation.
Armenia's historical role as a Soviet-era electronics hub provides a baseline of technical workforce and institutional familiarity with semiconductor-adjacent industries.
ANALYSIS The project tests whether a relatively small economy can absorb a facility of this scale; 300MW of continuous power demand and the operational overhead of tens of thousands of accelerators require robust grid capacity, cooling infrastructure, and skilled labor.
The Bloomberg report surfaced on September 22, 2026. Firebird's target completion date is 2027.