Firebird, a U.S.-based AI cloud company, has acquired U.S. government permission to export advanced Nvidia processors to Armenia for a $500 million artificial intelligence supercomputing facility.

Firebird, in a press release today, writes this is the initial phase of a multi-billion- dollar megaproject to bring high-capacity AI supercomputing infrastructure to the region.

Hetq interviewed the company's co-founders several months ago about the project.  See: $500 Million for an AI Factory: What Armenia Stands to Gain.

‘Now that we’ve figured out the [export] standards, we’re going to be able to keep it at that level for other markets,’ CEO and co-founder of Firebird Razmig Hovaghimian told Bloomberg.

According to the report by Bloomberg, the data center in Armenia will allocate 20% of its computing capacity for domestic companies, with the remaining 80% sold to US-based firms operating in the region.

“We are laying the groundwork for a modern digital and AI ecosystem in Armenia, one that can elevate local talent and attract global innovation. This is an important step for Armenia’s technological future,” the press release quotes Firebird co- founder Alexander Yesayan as saying.

These developments follow the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on August 8 in Washington, D.C., between the governments of the U.S. and Armenia on a bilateral AI and Semiconductor Innovation Partnership.

Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration’s classified Armenia as a second-tier country under the so-called AI diffusion rule, which limited exports of high-performance chips.