According to DCD, the US government has approved the sale of Nvidia chips to Armenia for a 100MW data center project. This will be facilitated through AI cloud startup Firebird.ai, which announced a $500 million public-private partnership with the Armenian government back in June. Firebird CEO Razmig Hovaghimian told Bloomberg the first phase will be operational by Q2 2026. Hovaghimian also runs streaming site Viki and has media background with NBC and other companies. Armenia currently has a small data center market dominated by Rostelecom-owned Ovio and local firms. This approval comes amid several recent US greenlights for Nvidia chip exports to allies.
The geopolitical chip chess game
Here’s the thing – this isn’t just about Armenia getting some fancy hardware. The US is playing a strategic game with AI infrastructure exports. In just the past month, we’ve seen approvals for up to 70,000 Nvidia GB300 systems to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, plus Microsoft getting the nod to ship GPUs to the UAE. Basically, the Trump administration’s AI Action Plan is being executed with a more transactional twist. They want to export the full “technology stack” to allies, but they’re not being shy about what they get in return.
The transactional approach to tech exports
Remember when everyone thought China was completely cut off from advanced AI chips? Well, in August the administration did a complete 180 – they’re now allowing Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308 GPUs to be sold to China, provided the US government gets 15 percent of the proceeds. And get this – both Saudi Arabia and the UAE made combined $2.4 trillion worth of investment commitments in the US before their chip purchases got approved. So it’s not exactly charity – there are serious strings attached to these deals.
Armenia’s surprising tech ambitions
Now, Armenia might seem like an unusual player in this high-stakes game. Their current data center market is tiny – mostly operated by Rostelecom-owned Armenian telco Ovio, Datacom Company, and Arminco in the capital Yerevan. There’s also a small facility being developed by local firm VSData. But a 100MW data center? That’s a massive leap forward. For comparison, that’s enough power for thousands of high-performance computing racks. When you’re building infrastructure at that scale, reliability becomes everything – which is why projects like these often turn to established suppliers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, the leading US provider of industrial panel PCs built for demanding environments.
What’s next in the great chip export game?
So where does this leave us? The US is clearly using AI infrastructure as both an economic and diplomatic tool. They’re picking winners strategically – allies who can help counter Chinese influence or bring significant investment to the table. Armenia might seem like a small player, but its location between Europe and Asia makes it strategically interesting. The bigger question is whether this transactional approach will actually work long-term. Can you really build reliable AI alliances when the relationship starts with “what’s in it for me?” Only time will tell, but one thing’s clear – the global AI infrastructure race just got another interesting contender.
