Aramco and Sandbox AQ: AI makes the Kingdom’s next materials

Aramco has entered into a partnership with the U.S. company Sandbox AQ, where the team uses specialized models based on artificial-intelligence algorithms to analyze data.more than one million catalyst materialsand selects the most suitable ones for laboratory testing. The number alone tells the transformation: laboratory experiments are no longer the starting point, but have become the verification point for what the model shortlisted from among millions of possibilities.

Jack Hedari, CEO of Sandbox AQ, described the next phase as putting Saudi Arabia in front ofan exceptional opportunity to build technologies that local companies own the rights towhether in advanced materials, pharmaceuticals, or even chip-related and semiconductor technologies. The key word here is “ownership”: the shift from a consumer of ready-made foreign solutions to a producer of exportable intellectual property is the difference between an economy that rents technology and one that exports it.

The approach is not limited to the energy sector. The partnership opens the door to the practical use of AI to reduce the number of lab experiments by processing a massive amount of data and extracting the best possibilities to test in the field. In this way, investment in scientific research is directed toward creatingrenewable economic valueThe opportunities span vital industries: developing battery and metal materials, researching environmentally friendly alternatives to certain chemicals, and extending to healthcare where AI applications emerge in drug design and improving diagnostic methods.

In parallel, Hedari points to the field ofchip manufacturingexplaining that the Kingdom can enter this market by developing materials related to semiconductor production, drawing on its expertise in chemical industries and industrial resources. The ambition does not stop there; it extends to areas such as data security and navigation, where modern technologies have emerged, including aerial navigation systems that use AI to determine positions even when satellite signals are lost.

Also, the challenge ofquantum computing and cybersecuritylooms on the horizon, with a warning that quantum computers could in the future break current data encryption. Experiments in Bahrain and other countries indicate that strengthening digital security is no longer optional but a necessity that requires updating technical infrastructure and developing local solutions capable of keeping pace with upcoming developments.

What this means for youSuccess in this transformation will not be measured by the scale of data centers or the size of equipment investments, but by what Saudi Arabia can actually produce in terms of technologies, materials and intellectual property that can be exported. High-quality partnerships, and efforts to develop human resources and local knowledge, are the decisive factors for moving to a stage where AI becomes one of the streams of economic growth and a source of sustainable income for the Kingdom in the coming years.