Firebird Opens CIS Region's Largest AI Factory in Armenia, Plans $5 Billion Expansion to 70,000 GPUs

U.S.-based AI cloud provider Firebird has launched the first phase of its flagship AI factory in Hrazdan, Armenia, marking the operational debut of the CIS region's largest AI computing facility. The $500 million initial phase runs on 6,144 NVIDIA B200 Blackwell GPUs. Backed by U.S. export clearances, Firebird plans to expand the site to over 70,000 GPUs and 300 megawatts by 2027, while pursuing a 2-gigawatt global roadmap that includes a 125-megawatt site in Kazakhstan.

Firebird Armenia AI factory launch

• ▪The Armenian state signed a five-year, $25 million compute-purchase agreement on April 17, 2026, to acquire computing resources from Firebird for local startups, universities, and research centers
• ▪The Hrazdan facility was constructed in just over six months, utilizing NVIDIA accelerated computing, Dell Technologies PowerEdge servers, Schneider Electric power systems, and Vertiv chilled-water cooling systems
• ▪The first phase of the Hrazdan AI factory represents an investment of approximately $500 million, with total project investment expected to reach $5 billion upon full completion
• ▪A syndicate of six Armenian financial institutions provided a $300 million syndicated loan to finance the first phase of the Hrazdan AI factory project
• ▪Firebird officially launched the first phase of its flagship artificial intelligence computing factory in Hrazdan, Armenia, on August 8, 2026, which is described as the largest AI factory in the CIS region

GPU capacity expansion roadmap

• ▪Firebird plans to scale its Armenian infrastructure to more than 70,000 NVIDIA Rubin and Blackwell GPUs and 300 megawatts of capacity by the end of 2027
• ▪Firebird is pursuing a global roadmap to build approximately 2 gigawatts of AI infrastructure capacity across Armenia, Kazakhstan, and other frontier markets by the end of 2028
• ▪The Hrazdan AI factory launched with an initial capacity of 6,144 NVIDIA B200 Blackwell GPUs across 15 megawatts of power, though a June 2026 government brief cited 18 megawatts

US export licensing approval

• ▪Firebird and the U.S. government announced Phase 2 of the Armenia megaproject in February 2026, securing export licensing for an additional 41,000 NVIDIA GB300 GPUs
• ▪Firebird secured a U.S. export license in November 2025, which allowed the company to legally import advanced NVIDIA hardware into Armenia

NVIDIA investment commitment

• ▪NVIDIA announced its intention to make a direct equity investment in Firebird, which would follow an earlier 2026 investment in Firebird by CoreWeave
• ▪NVIDIA has committed more than $40 billion to AI equity positions in 2026, including a $1 billion investment in Naver and a $2.1 billion warrant in IREN

Kazakhstan market entry

• ▪Firebird obtained a U.S. export license from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security to ship advanced NVIDIA hardware to its Kazakhstan site
• ▪Firebird secured 125 megawatts of capacity at the Data Center Valley project in Ekibastuz, Kazakhstan, marking its entry into its second national market