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A hitherto unknown company, Firebird AI, announced on November 20 that it will open one of the world\u2019s most advanced AI clusters in Armenia by mid-2026. The news has been heralded as a major step toward attracting American investment to the country. It is the first $500 million investment project to follow Armenia\u2019s signing of the U.S.-backed TRIPP agreement in August. For this AI factory, the United States granted export licenses for Nvidia GPUs, making Armenia the third developing country\u2014after Saudi Arabia and the UAE\u2014to receive such exclusive rights.<\/p>\n
The political enthusiasm surrounding Firebird\u2019s project, however, smokescreens a multitude of issues that such a large-scale enterprise could raise, particularly for the environment and public health in Armenia. These risks become especially alarming when we examine how AI data centers in other countries have affected surrounding communities.<\/p>\n
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Clouds Are Material<\/strong><\/p>\n Data centers are often imagined as weightless engines of the digital economy. Yet \u201cthe cloud\u201d is anything but immaterial. It is built on warehouses filled with machines that operate around the clock, consuming enormous resources\u2014often rivaling those of heavy industry or aviation.<\/p>\n During the first phase of Firebird AI\u2019s operations in Armenia, a 100-megawatt data center with 6,144 GPUs is planned. The facility will require an estimated 876 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually just to run the servers. This would amount to roughly 12\u201313 percent of Armenia\u2019s total annual electricity consumption. According to Eurasianet<\/a>\u2019<\/span>s estimates, the facility would use as much electricity as 120,000 people consume in an entire year. And this figure accounts only for server operation; an additional 5\u201310 percent of energy would be required to run supporting infrastructure such as cooling systems. Given Armenia\u2019s hot summers, cooling demand could be even higher.<\/p>\n The issue is not only the volume of electricity consumed, but also how it is consumed. AI training workloads cause rapid spikes and drops in power usage. Armenia\u2019s electricity grid is not designed to handle such fluctuations, raising serious concerns about disruptions to power delivery for nearby homes.<\/p>\n Armenian Networks of Electricity did not respond to Epress.am\u2019s inquiry about whether Firebird AI has applied to connect to the grid or whether the system can meet the project\u2019s energy demands. The power grid is already under strain due to gentrification-driven construction in Yerevan and other regions. Regular outages are often attributed to the grid\u2019s inability to cope with rising demand.<\/p>\n According to Eurasianet, the AI data center will also require more than 1,892,700 liters of water per day for cooling. The Ministry of Environment has confirmed that Firebird AI has not received any permits from the ministry. \u201cThe company hasn\u2019t filed any documents regarding its Environmental Impact Assessment,\u201d the ministry told Epress.am.<\/p>\n