Armenia’s Liana Khachatryan wins 21st International Microelectronics Olympiad
Liana Khachatryan of Armenia took first place at the 21st International Microelectronics Olympiad, with Assane Ndiaye of France in second. The awards ceremony was held in Yerevan on November 3 and closed the first day of the Silicon Mountains 2026 technology summit and exhibition.
The event’s organiser, the Union of Employers of ICT (UEICT), announced this. Silicon Mountains is Armenia’s leading technology platform, run by UEICT since 2019. This year’s edition is the 11th: over that time more than 100 speakers have taken the stage and the number of participants has exceeded 10 thousand.
Third place was shared by Natali Juljyan of Lebanon, Arthur Saribekyan of Armenia and Anton Glinin of Russia. The prize for the best engineering solution, named after war hero Arman Chagharyan, went to Haykush Petrosyan of Armenia. Participants from Armenia thus won 3 of the 6 awards.
At the ceremony, UEICT President Armen Baldryan stressed: “Microelectronics is the foundation of technology, and the future of technological development is the specialists who competed in Yerevan for two days. Microelectronics is not a sector, it is a way of thinking, a special engineering character and a special prism through which to look at the world. I want all our participants to become, in a few years, specialists whom the whole world will know.”
Opening the summit, UEICT Executive Director Eduard Musayelyan defined investment in a broad sense: not only as capital, but also as a new laboratory, an education programme, the transfer of experience, a first order for a young team or a door opened to international partnership. He recalled that since 2024 Silicon Mountains has also been held in Armenia’s regions, and announced that the next regional event will take place in Tavush province in the country’s northeast. “To have a share in tomorrow’s success, you have to be ready to share its risk today,” Musayelyan added.
The summit’s keynote speaker was Dr. Kam Ghaffarian, Executive Chairman and co-founder of X-energy, Intuitive Machines, Axiom Space and Quantum Space and 2026 laureate of the Global Award for Contribution to High Technology. He spoke on “Building the Space Future Together: Let’s Become ‘Interstellar'”.
Hassan Mansour, CEO of Monty Mobile, who leads the global teams of a company operating in more than 200 countries and regions, spoke on “Wonderful Innovation: Is It Enough?”. Laith Altimime, President of SEMI Europe, the European arm of the global semiconductor industry association, with more than 30 years of experience in the sector, presented “Redefining the Entire Semiconductor Value Chain”. Ricardo Pinto, Chief Technology Officer for network infrastructure in Europe at Nokia, discussed the development of network infrastructure in the age of artificial intelligence, while astrophysicist Garik Israelian, co-founder of the STARMUS science and music festival, explained how artificial intelligence is transforming astrophysics.
By tradition, a special postcard dedicated to Silicon Mountains 2026 was cancelled with a commemorative postmark during the summit. It was printed in 500 copies measuring 150×110 mm and designed by David Dovlatyan. The postcard can be sent to any country from any branch of HayPost, Armenia’s national postal operator. Hovik Musayelyan, President of the Armenian Philatelic Association, noted that in recent years Silicon Mountains has become Armenia’s most important technology platform.
On November 4, the second day of the event, the International Microelectronics Forum is taking place with speakers from Armenia and abroad. The programme also includes the Women Leaders Club discussion “Leadership Without Borders” and the panel “After AI. What Are Investors Actually Paying For?” on what investors are really paying for in the age of artificial intelligence.
