For the first time in the history of Armenia’s banking system, six financial institutions have united under a syndicated loan agreement to provide $300 million in financing for the Firebird AI megaproject, a landmark transaction that will fund the main part of the project’s approximately $450 million first phase.
The agreement, signed on March 26, marks Armenia’s first-ever syndicated loan deal for a major technology project and is being described as the largest transaction of its kind in the country’s financial market in terms of both financing volume and investment scale.
The six participating institutions are Ardshinbank, Acba Bank, Evocabank, Fast Bank, C-Quadrat Ampega Asset Management Armenia, and Amundi-Acba Asset Management Fund. The transaction was initiated and led by Ardshinbank.
The financing will support Firebird AI’s project to establish a modern AI data center in Armenia using advanced NVIDIA technology. Firebird’s AI factory is expected to become the most powerful supercomputing and AI data processing center in the region, expanding access to cutting-edge AI infrastructure for research institutions, technology companies, and enterprises.
Armenian Minister of High-Tech Industry Mkhitar Hayrapetyan said the investment goes beyond a single company, calling it an investment in Armenia’s technology sector, innovation ecosystem, science, and broader economy. He said the project stems from strategic documents signed in Washington in 2025, particularly a bilateral memorandum of understanding in the fields of artificial intelligence and semiconductors, and credited the governments of Armenia and the United States, Firebird’s founders, and Armenia’s financial and banking sector for helping turn those agreements into concrete results.
The signing ceremony was attended by Hayrapetyan, Central Bank of Armenia Chairman Martin Galstyan, and U.S. Chargé d’Affaires in Armenia David Allen, along with representatives of the participating institutions.
Galstyan said the successful financing of the project shows Armenia’s banking and financial system has developed the capacity to assess and support investment projects of major scale and international significance. He also said a second phase of the project, announced during the visit of U.S. Vice President Vance to Yerevan in February, is expected to add around 41,000 NVIDIA processors and raise the total investment volume to about $4 billion, which he said would place Armenia among the countries with the world’s largest and most powerful AI computing infrastructures.
Allen said Firebird’s AI data center reflects what Armenia and the United States can achieve together in technological innovation, highlighting the use of advanced U.S. technology exports, including NVIDIA GPUs and Dell technology, alongside Armenia’s growing high-tech sector.
The transaction also sets a practical precedent for large-scale syndicated lending in Armenia’s financial market. It is being described as the country’s largest financing deal and the largest U.S. investment project in Armenia’s economy.
