(Bloomberg) — Palantir Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Alex Karp said the company wants to make American manufacturing more efficient — announcing a flurry of new partnerships and stressing the importance of a strong industrial base to bolster the economy and national security.
Karp spoke Thursday at AIPCon in Palo Alto, California, a Palantir event showcasing how companies are using its artificial intelligence tools. In particular, Palantir has put a focus on up-and-coming defense tech firms, announcing plans to work with them to boost manufacturing for aircraft, submarines and other hardware.
For example, Archer Aviation Inc., a vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft company, will lean on Palantir to scale up its manufacturing efforts, and will use its AI for features like route planning and air traffic control, the companies said Thursday.
Other new partnerships include autonomous marine vessel startup Saildrone Inc., which will use Palantir’s software for fleet management and processes like buying parts, the companies said. And defense startups Saronic Technologies, which builds autonomous watercraft, as well as Epirus Inc., which makes weapons that can zap drones out of the sky, will also incorporate Palantir’s technology.
“This is a moment that Palantir predicted,” Karp told a packed room at the conference, stressing the need to build up American industrial capacity. The company’s push to power defense and other types of manufacturing is part of a larger effort in Silicon Valley and Washington to bolster national security with new technology. Karp wrote a book on the topic, the Technological Republic, and copies were provided Thursday to attendees.
Palantir’s stock has soared in recent years – rising by more than 200% in the last 12 months, and overtaking the market capitalizations of more established defense firms such as RTX Corp. and Lockheed Martin Corp. The stock’s surge has been driven in large part by the company’s artificial intelligence products. Karp has said that “untamed” demand for its AI tools has outstripped supply.
Founded in 2003 by a group that included Karp and billionaire Peter Thiel, Palantir has long been known for the data analytics services it provides to governments. But the company has also been growing its commercial business — selling to companies like Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., Heineken NV and General Mills Inc., as well as defense firms.
This year, analysts expect Palantir’s commercial revenue to overtake its government revenue, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
At Thursday’s conference, customers spoke about their use of Palantir’s tools, including representatives from AT&T Inc., Walgreen’s, Wendy’s Co. and defense contractor L3Harris Technologies Inc.
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