Bahrain has tapped SandboxAQ in a nationwide effort to modernize its cybersecurity. The Palo Alto-based AI firm is partnering with Bahrain’s National Cyber Security Center to deploy its software across some 60 government bodies as the country prepares for an era — expected by the end of the decade — in which quantum computing is prevalent and encrypted code will be vulnerable to hackers as well as more sophisticated AI agents.
Manama is already leaning on SandboxAQ to help with its economic diversification drive. In October, Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat struck a deal with the firm to help it stand up a biotech industry, targeting more than $1 billion in assets over three years. Bahrain is licensing SandboxAQ’s AI software to accelerate target discovery and develop drugs and therapies. Speaking to Semafor, SandboxAQ CEO Jack Hidary called the deal a fast track to homegrown intellectual property for Bahrain.