Washington turns Armenia into an “offshore computing center.”
Author: Ali Askari, analyst, especially for Sangar
In 2025, the United States imposed strict export restrictions on high-performance chips targeting various countries. To bypass barriers on the sale of American processors without directly violating national legislation, Washington is relying on the capabilities of a joint data center under construction in the Republic of Armenia (RA).
Yerevan provides the Americans not only with a favorable location for the data center but also with energy resources and personnel for its subsequent operation. According to observers from the Bloomberg news agency, only 20 percent of the computing resources of the data center will be used by the Armenian side, while 80 percent of the capacity is reserved for the interests of American companies.
In practice, Washington is turning Armenia into an “offshore computing center,” viewed as one of the instruments of economic expansion for American technology corporations in global and regional IT markets.
The implementation of the project carries risks for Armenia’s ecosystem, a matter widely discussed by Armenian experts. For instance, Aravot.am expressed concern that the planned construction timeline for the data center (scheduled to become operational in 2026) does not account for the capacity of the national energy system. Estimates indicate that the data center will consume up to three percent of the country’s electricity, which will require increasing overall production.
It is noted that Armenia’s primary source of electricity is natural gas (approximately 60 percent), and increasing its production sharply raises the risk of hydrocarbon emissions. At the same time, the water required for cooling high-performance processors may exacerbate the country’s existing water scarcity.
Experts in Armenia emphasize that the initiative to build the data center requires careful consideration of all issues. In addition, the implementation of legal frameworks is deemed essential, ensuring that Yerevan can reliably eliminate the risks of potential leaks of confidential information.
