By Nate Ostiller
The US has promised Armenia access to highly desired Nvidia AI chips as part of its quest to broker a peace deal with Azerbaijan in 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend, citing sources. The pledged chips, numbering some 70,000, will be installed in the recently inaugurated Firebird data center, the largest such facility in the region.
US negotiators reportedly promised to authorize the sale of the chips as a carrot to bring Armenia to the table, culminating in the Washington summit in August 2025 between US President Donald Trump, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The summit resulted in the initialing, but not signing, of a peace treaty to end decades of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan. A year later, the treaty remains unsigned, but significant steps have been made towards peace, including the opening of trade between the two countries and the launching of the proposed Trump Route infrastructure project, which would link Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhichevan through Armenian territory.
Ahead of the summit, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff prepared a memo “outlin[ing] a plan to deepen Armenia’s economic relationship with the US and bolster the country’s tech industry, including giving export licenses for the Firebird chips.”
Despite his lack of experience, Witkoff has emerged as one of the Trump administration’s top negotiators in international affairs.
Then-US Ambassador to Armenia Kristina Kvien also helped promote the deal, personally meeting with Commerce Department officials to ask if the sale of chips could be authorized.
