Azerbaijan pitches gas and renewables for AI data centers

Hikmet Hajiyev, President Ilham Aliyev’s foreign policy aide, said Azerbaijan expects another 2 gigawatts of renewable capacity in the near term and 8 gigawatts more later, volumes that would more than double the country’s roughly 8.4 GW of installed power capacity. The projects are being built with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and Abu Dhabi’s Masdar, while hydropower from the “liberated territories” adds to the renewable mix.

The pitch has added urgency after Armenia drew regional attention with Firebird’s “AI Factory” in Hrazdan, which is slated to house more than 70,000 Nvidia Blackwell and Rubin chips, reach 300 megawatts by 2027 and serve international clients including Perplexity. Nvidia has said it plans to invest in the company, underscoring how quickly a smaller South Caucasus economy can pull ahead if it secures an export license and an anchor customer.

That is the immediate investor takeaway for Azerbaijan: energy alone is not enough. AI hubs need uninterrupted power, fiber connectivity, insurance capacity and access to advanced semiconductors, and the latter still requires US export clearance. Without those pieces, Baku’s vision remains a policy ambition rather than a fundable buildout.

Geopolitics is part of the sales pitch too. Azerbaijani officials are arguing that the Caspian offers more security than Gulf alternatives as conflict risks and shipping disruptions weigh on investor calculations. They are also tying the AI agenda to peace talks with Armenia, saying cross-border trade and connectivity could create incentives to keep the region stable.

For investors, the next 12 months will decide whether Azerbaijan can convert its energy advantage into a real technology trade. An anchor tenant, chip license and visible renewable output would make the story investable; failure to secure them would leave Armenia’s lead in the regional AI race even wider.