On April 17, a contract was signed between the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of Armenia and Firebird AI for the acquisition of high-performance computing resources, under which the state will purchase the relevant resources worth USD 25 million.
The agreement was signed by the Secretary General of the Ministry of High-Tech Industry, Davit Gasparyan, and the co-founder of Firebird AI, Alexander Yesayan.
Emphasizing the importance of the agreement, the Minister of High-Tech Industry, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, noted that the initiative has strategic significance for Armenia’s technological development and serves as an important example of a public–private partnership.
“Today, what is happening is the result of combining the efforts of the Republic of Armenia and our compatriots in the diaspora. Without one another, this project would not have taken place. Visionaries who had a clear understanding of how to leverage the presence of our partners at NVIDIA, along with those who had the opportunity to influence decision-making within the Government of the Republic of Armenia, began to think, dream, and bring this idea to life together. As a result, strategic agreements reached at the highest political level between the Republic of Armenia and the United States made it possible to bring this project to life and turn it into reality,” the minister emphasized.
According to Hayrapetyan, cooperation with Firebird AI aims to promote the development of artificial intelligence, science, engineering, and innovation in Armenia.
The minister noted that the computing resources to be acquired will be made available to AI specialists, researchers, scientists, research and educational institutions, as well as startups.
“To implement all this, last year we created a platform called the Virtual Institute of Artificial Intelligence. Through this virtual institute, and with access to high-performance computing resources, we will provide them to innovators, researchers, scientists, and startups.
I believe this is an excellent example of a public–private partnership, as these resources are being provided by Firebird under exclusive preferential terms. In other words, the services planned for export to other countries will naturally be offered under different conditions.
This is another strong example of cooperation between the two sides—the Government of the Republic of Armenia and Firebird. It is a joint investment in technological advancement, the development of our country’s economy, and the fields of innovation,” the minister added.
According to the co-founder and chief executive of Firebird AI, Alexander Yesayan, the volume of licenses already obtained gives Armenia a significant competitive advantage at the international level.
“The first phase currently being implemented, as well as the approval already secured for the second phase—which we will announce soon—make Armenia one of the leading countries in the world in terms of the volume of licenses obtained.
Although the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have announced larger programs, the scale of the permissions we have already received exceeds the indicators of those countries,” Yesayan noted.
According to him, the program envisions not only the development of technological infrastructure but also its broad application in science and business.
“From the very beginning, we discussed how this resource could serve our universities, startup ecosystem, and companies that are just entering this field. What we promised has now, one could say, already been formalized in documented form.
At Firebird, we are, of course, very proud and pleased to participate in this program, and this will be an ongoing effort.
We will also soon announce Firebird Labs, which will provide support to startups, particularly in the educational sphere—something we will discuss in more detail later,” Yesayan added.
NVIDIA Vice President Rev Lebaredian, in turn, noted that the initiative was conceived years ago and has undergone a long journey.
“The idea of creating artificial intelligence infrastructure so that Armenia not only catches up with others but also becomes a leader emerged back in 2018, after the revolution. At that time, I came to Armenia to meet with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to discuss the importance of technology and what could be done to build the right technological ecosystem.
Soon after, when the Prime Minister visited the United States, we hosted him at NVIDIA, where we discussed what Armenia could do to help its people make a leap into the future.
When he asked our CEO, Jensen Huang, what Armenia should do to advance its high-tech sector, he replied: ‘You must do for your people what I have done for mine,’” he said.
According to Lebaredian, joint efforts by various stakeholders were crucial for success.
“There were many unsuccessful attempts. Many people did not understand what we meant when we spoke about artificial intelligence, but now they recognize its value and see that it is a real, ongoing process.
In the end, we managed to bring together all the necessary components. We had the required support from the Government, and the right people joined,” he stressed.
The NVIDIA Vice President also outlined the technical scale of the project.
“The first phase is already being launched, involving around 6,000 GPUs, which places Armenia alongside countries like Germany in terms of GPU capacity.
By the end of the year, when the second phase is launched, Armenia will rank among the top five countries in the world—not per capita, but in total number of GPUs,” Lebaredian emphasized.
According to him, Armenia must act quickly to take advantage of the opportunity created.
“Today, we have favorable conditions: we have public trust, we have the support of the United States government, and there are no real obstacles in our path,” he emphasized.
At the end of his speech, he emphasized that the program is still in its initial stage.
“We are building the first layer of the foundation. There are many other layers ahead that we need to build. And this will allow our small country with a small population to operate in the same way as countries with billions of people, having the appropriate power, capabilities, and productivity.”
Published by Armenpress, original at
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