Firebird Launches AI Factory in Armenia: International Media Discusses Project’s Economy
YEREVAN, August 10. /ARКА/. Following the launch of Firebird's AI factory in the Armenian Hrazdan, international technology coverage of the project is beginning to take a more analytical perspective, alongside the scale of the infrastructure.
Much of the coverage continues to focus on the number of GPUs, the facility's capacity, and Armenia's prospects as a platform for AI infrastructure development. However, some publications are already raising more practical questions: how much computing power has actually been deployed, how will further expansion be supported, who will be the infrastructure's clients, and how economically feasible is the project's stated scale.
The most critical analysis was published by the technology publication TECHi. It draws a fundamental distinction between the already operational facility and Firebird's plans to expand the Armenian infrastructure to more than 70,000 GPUs and 300 MW of capacity by the end of 2027.
According to TECHi, further scaling of the project will depend on the availability of electricity and financing, equipment supplies, and actual commercial demand for computing resources. The publication also notes differences in the publicly stated parameters of the first phase.
Official materials from June listed a capacity of 18 MW, while on Firebird's current website, the DC-1 site with 6,144 NVIDIA B200 GPUs is listed as a 15 MW facility. There is no public explanation yet as to whether these figures refer to different capacity characteristics of the facility.
TECHi also notes the lack of publicly available consolidated data on the number of GPUs actually commissioned for commercial operation, the computing power available to clients, and the current utilisation of the facility.
The publication pays special attention to the financial aspects of the project. Six Armenian financial institutions provided $300 million in syndicated financing. Furthermore, the Armenian government has entered into a five-year agreement to purchase high-performance computing resources from Firebird for $25 million.
With further scaling, TECHi notes, not only the availability of the infrastructure itself will be important, but also its commercial utilisation – the capacity contracted by paying clients, the cost of electricity, and the selling price of computing resources. The AI Insider views Firebird primarily as a large-scale AI infrastructure project. The publication highlights the company's updated plan to expand its Armenian site to more than 70,000 NVIDIA Blackwell and Rubin GPUs and 300 MW of capacity by the end of 2027.
The Armenian facility is also seen as part of Firebird's broader international strategy. The company is developing AI infrastructure in Kazakhstan, where it claims 125 MW of capacity, and expects to create a global infrastructure network of approximately 2 GW by the end of 2028.
The AI Insider also reports NVIDIA's intention to invest in Firebird, following an earlier investment by CoreWeave. The size and terms of NVIDIA's proposed investment have not been publicly disclosed.
According to Firebird, Perplexity company is the first clients of the Armenian AI factory. However, no public information regarding the volume of computing resources contracted by the company, the cost of the agreement, or the actual infrastructure utilization has been disclosed.
TahawulTech is primarily focused on international and infrastructure development. The publication calls the facility launched in Armenia the largest AI factory in the CIS region and views it as a foundation for strengthening the country's role in high-performance computing, AI research, and technological innovation.
The facility is based on the NVIDIA DSX AI Factory reference architecture and Dell PowerEdge servers. Schneider Electric, which supplied the power infrastructure, and Vertiv, which developed the cooling architecture, are also participating in the project.
According to TahawulTech, the Armenian facility was built in just over six months. Firebird plans to expand its capacity in three phases to more than 70,000 NVIDIA Rubin and Blackwell GPUs and 300 MW of capacity by the end of 2027.
The publication also writes that the launch in Razdan marks the operational debut of Firebird's global AI infrastructure platform. The company has already expanded beyond Armenia, securing the opportunity to develop 125 MW of AI infrastructure in Kazakhstan, and by the end of 2028, it intends to increase the total capacity of its infrastructure in Armenia, Kazakhstan, and other markets to approximately 2 GW.
Therefore, it is premature to speak of a complete shift in the international narrative surrounding Firebird. Much of the coverage continues to focus on the project's scale, the number of GPUs, technology partners, and the company's international expansion.
However, following the launch of the facility, another analytical question arises in international coverage: whether the stated technological scale can translate into a sustainable commercial model. Key indicators for the project's further development include the number of GPUs actually commissioned, the actual available electrical power, the volume of computing resources contracted by clients, and the economics of subsequent expansion phases.
Along with electricity cost and reliability, financing, equipment supply, and international demand, the dynamics of these indicators will allow us to assess whether Armenia can become not only a platform for hosting a large AI infrastructure but also a sustainable regional hub for computing services.
Sources:
TECHi — Firebird's Armenia AI factory is live. The 300 MW promise is not true
The AI Insider — Firebird Opens Armenia AI Factory, Plans 70,000-Plus Nvidia GPUs by 2027
TahawulTech — Firebird launches CIS region's largest AI factory in Armenia to accelerate innovation
Official materials from Firebird, NVIDIA, and the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of Armenia were also used to validate the project's parameters.-0-
