YEREVAN — A major high-tech exhibition RISE Powered by Silicon Mountains 2026 took place on June 3–4 at the Karen Demirchyan Sports and Concert Complex in Yerevan. The exhibition brought together leading representatives of the technol- ogy and military-industrial sectors, industry experts, and more than 40 Ar- menian companies. This year’s event is being held in two phases—in June and November—under the motto “We Are Our Mountains. Ascent.” Speaking at the opening ceremony, Armenia’s Minister of High-Tech In- dustry, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, empha- sized that the country’s military-indus- trial sector is rapidly strengthening and emerging as a significant branch of the national economy. “The defense industry has gener- ated approximately 70 billion drams in economic turnover and is already expanding beyond Armenia’s borders. Defense products are becoming a key export sector of our economy,” Hayra- petyan said. According to the minister, this is only the beginning of a long-term de- velopment process, as the government has set even more ambitious goals for the sector. “We are concluding the first three- year development program, which in- cluded direct government procurement orders totaling 172 billion drams. We consider this program a success,” he said. “That is why the government has made another important strategic de- cision—to continue the practice of long-term contracts, a policy that has already been incorporated into deci- sions involving an additional 190 bil- lion drams,” Hayrapetyan added. Armen Baldryan, President of the Union of Employers in Information and Communication Technologies (UEICT) and CEO of Unicomp CJSC, stressed that Armenia has no alterna- tive but to develop its domestic high- tech industry. “This is not merely an industry; it is a driving force for the entire econo- my. Armenian products must become the engine that increases the country’s economic productivity and enables Ar- menia to gain a competitive advantage in the global marketplace,” Baldryan said. About the Exhibition RISE Powered by Silicon Moun- tains 2026 is organized by the Union of Employers in Information and Com- munication Technologies (UEICT), established in 2015. The organization unites more than 130 companies em- ploying over 30,000 people. RISE stands for Research, Innova- tion, Science, and Engineering. Silicon Mountains RISE is being held for the first time in 2026 as a spring expan- sion of the Silicon Mountains Summit series. The exhibition is dedicated to showcasing high-tech products, in- novative solutions, scientific achieve- ments, and engineering projects devel- oped by Armenian companies, research centers, and technology teams. Since 2019, UEICT has organized the annual Silicon Mountains Tech Summit. According to the organizers, the event has featured more than 100 speakers and attracted over 6,000 par- ticipants. In 2024, the summit was held out- side Yerevan for the first time, taking place in the Shirak region. In 2025, it was hosted at the COAF SMART Cen- ter in Armenia’s Lori region.