Dr. Yervant Zorian praises bilateral agreements enabling transfer of cutting-edge U.S. technologies to Armenia

President of Synopsys Armenia, Dr. Yervant Zorian, has highlighted the significance of the bilateral Armenia–United States agreements signed in Washington this summer, which will facilitate the export of American technologies to Armenia.

Armenpress asked Dr. Zorian to comment on the U.S. government’s approval for the AI startup Firebird Inc. to export Nvidia Corp. chips to Armenia for a 500-million-dollar supercomputer project.

Lauding the launch of the project, he said it is planned that starting from 2030, ten percent of the electricity produced in Armenia will be allocated to powering the data center.

“It is a very positive decision, without which it would have been difficult for Armenia to gain access to these technologies. The field of AI is quite advanced but still inaccessible to many countries. According to U.S. export-control regulations, Armenia was not allowed to receive new technologies in AI, microelectronics, and other fields from the United States. However, in August, the two countries signed three memorandums at the White House, one of which concerns authorization for exporting these technologies. The document outlines effective avenues of cooperation between the U.S. and Armenia in this area, which will facilitate the provision of American technologies to the Armenian side. The first step in this direction was the decision to provide Nvidia chips to Firebird. It is now very important to apply the same approach in the field of microelectronics, where different regulations apply. It is expected that the memorandum will also contribute to the export of microelectronics technologies. In that case, the headquarters of American companies—such as Synopsys—would be allowed to provide their Armenian branches with many advanced technologies that they are currently unable to transfer,” Dr. Zorian said.

Armenia and the U.S. signed three MoUs in August: the Crossroads of Peace Capacity Building Partnership, the AI and Semiconductor Innovation Partnership, and the Energy Security Partnership.

Armenpress: What prospects does the implementation of this major project related to artificial intelligence open up for Armenia?

Dr. Yervant Zorian: Armenia will have a high-quality data center, which is extremely important. In its absence, many companies operating here have been forced to rely on data available in other organizations’ centers for AI computations. From now on, Armenian companies will be able to perform the necessary computations using local data rather than cloud-based data. Companies from other countries will also be able to use the data generated by the center to be established in Armenia—they will acquire space here and carry out their operations locally. The data center will contain numerous computers performing calculations simultaneously through various chips. The term “super” indicates that hundreds or even thousands of computers will work in parallel. These systems will consume large amounts of electricity, and additional capacity may be required to support this demand. This is why the participation of the Armenian state in the process is crucial. It is planned that starting from 2030, ten percent of the electricity produced in Armenia will be allocated to powering the data center."

Firebird, an AI cloud company, and the Armenian government—with support from NVIDIA—announced in June 2025 their vision for building advanced AI infrastructure to accelerate technological innovation and establish the Caucasus region as an AI hub.

The initiative will bring the first large-scale AI data center to the region. The 100-megawatt facility—backed by an initial $500 million investment—will use AI servers from Dell Technologies Inc. and Blackwell processors from NVIDIA. The first phase is scheduled to be operational in the second quarter of next year, Firebird Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Razmig Hovaghimian told Bloomberg after the company received U.S. government approval to export NVIDIA chips to Armenia.

The advanced AI infrastructure, developed in collaboration with the Armenian government, NVIDIA, and Team, will be located in the Armenian town of Hrazdan.

Asked about Armenia’s current position on the global IT map, Dr. Yervant Zorian underscored that the country holds a strong place but emphasized the importance of focusing on key strategic directions.

“Armenia holds quite a strong position, but it should be noted that the IT sector is very broad and represented in almost every field. Smart devices are not only widely used but also interconnected. It will be difficult for Armenia to take leading positions in all areas of IT application; therefore, it is necessary to select several strategic directions and strive to gain significant positions in those specific areas. For this purpose, under the leadership of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Science and Technology Development Council of Armenia has been formed, and five key strategic fields have been identified for our country: microelectronics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, autonomous systems development, and quantum electronics. State involvement in this process is essential, as the development of these fields requires the creation of relevant infrastructure and the formation of an ecosystem—from education to research and the establishment of companies. This means organizing school and university education related to the sector, supporting research, promoting innovation, and launching companies that will put these ideas into practice. If even one link in this chain is missing, the overall system will not function properly. Working together in a coordinated manner is crucial for achieving high efficiency,” Dr. Zorian said.

The full interview is available in Armenian.

Dr. Yervant Zorian is Synopsys Fellow and the President of Synopsys Armenia. Formerly, he was Vice President and Chief Scientist of Virage Logic, Chief Technologist at LogicVision, and a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff AT&T Bell Laboratories. He is currently the President of IEEE Test Technology Technical Council (TTTC), the founder and chair of the IEEE 1500 Standardization Working Group, the Editor-in-Chief Emeritus of the IEEE Design and Test of Computers and an Adjunct Professor at University of British Columbia.

He served on the Board of Governors of Computer Society and CEDA, was the Vice President of IEEE Computer Society, the General Chair of the 50th Design Automation Conference (DAC) and the 50th International Test Conference (ITC) as well as several other symposia and workshops.

Dr. Zorian holds more than 40 US patents, has authored four books, published over 350 refereed papers and received numerous best paper awards.