Palantir: How a Silicon Valley Unicorn Rewrote the Rules on Tech, Data, and Defense

Palantir: How a Silicon Valley Unicorn Rewrote the Rules on Tech, Data, and Defense

Written by Massa Medi

When today’s titans of the tech industry take the stage, there’s a phrase you’re bound to hear: "connecting the world." While that sounds noble, it’s become a bit of a punchline—often code for “we’re building digital playgrounds as addictive as opioids, but with cuter cows”.

So, when I learned last year’s best performing stock was a Silicon Valley unicorn named Palantir, I was confident I knew their game. Maybe they’d launched a streaming service called BooBoo, a real estate app named Housley, or perhaps some earbuds with a snazzy moniker like Doinkers. But let’s be thorough, I thought, so I did what any seasoned investigator does: consult Bing.com (to type in Google.com, naturally), which finally led me to Palantir’s own website.

Here’s what I found: Palantir is all about blazing buzzwords—AI-powered automation for every decision, delivering “mission critical outcomes” for the West’s most powerful institutions. Reading their site feels like what might happen if Genghis Khan and Ronald Reagan collaborated to write painfully bland marketing copy.

But here’s what even I could grasp: Whatever Palantir does, it’s minting them money. Their stock has boomed, seen surges like 22% in a single week, and for a shining moment in winter 2024, it soared 340%, catapulting the company’s valuation to north of $250 billion—right alongside longtime giants like AT&T, IBM, and Cisco. While the market has cooled a bit since then, Palantir is still towering over much of the tech industry.

Now, big money can tempt even the noblest of journalists to go slack-jawed, but I remained resolute. What is Palantir, really? To crack the mystery, I did something drastic: calling in the experts.

So, What Does Palantir Actually Do?

That, as it turns out, may be the company’s greatest mystique. In a revealing conversation with Sharon Weinberger, national security editor at The Wall Street Journal (and a two-decade veteran covering America’s defense industry), she explained:

“The fact that you’re asking that question goes to the heart of the company and the confusion over it … I will tell you what they do: they want to win Defense Department contracts and commercial contracts, but their eye is on the prize.”

Palantir traces its beginnings to the chaos of 2003’s War on Terror. At a time when US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq were stalked by IEDs and elusive insurgents, Palantir pitched itself as a high-tech ally: a data analytics platform designed to make sense of the brutal mess by integrating battlefield data to help spot terrorists and bad actors.

Throughout their first decade, they built their reputation as the Department of Defense’s problem solver. Today, their ambitions have only grown.

“You have a problem, we’ll solve it.” Palantir has become the fixer for America’s sprawling defense needs.

Disrupting the Old Guard: Palantir vs. Defense Primes

Back in the day, the Pentagon’s cash flowed to massive old-school defense contractors—Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon. These were the Big Kahunas making jets, missiles, and enough spreadsheets to bury a tank. The system, primed for bureaucracy and cost overruns, was overdue for a shake-up.

According to Margaret O’Meara—America’s go-to historian for modern politics and business—new players like Palantir are stirring the defense industry pot in ways policymakers have wanted for decades: shaking loose the grip of a handful of sluggish old primes and refreshing the ecosystem.

Fun Interlude: Data Privacy and Jeremy J. Watkins

Quick break for a birthday shout-out: Happy Birthday, Jeremy J. Watkins! (Yes, thanks to data brokers, your life is a lot less private than you think.) If you’d rather not have your Google searches for “cheap fleece pullovers and hemorrhoid ointment” immortalized on some blogger’s mantle, get acquainted with Incogni—a service dedicated to scrubbing your info from sketchy data-hawking sites. You never know where your details end up unless, of course, you like your personal data hung in someone’s guest bathroom.

Landing Contracts and Making Deals

The real fuel behind Palantir’s meteoric rise? Government contracts—a stylish Silicon Valley brand on a traditionally cigar-chomping game. In fact, since 2009, Palantir has seized over $1.3 billion in Department of Defense contracts. Their government work spans projects like the US Army’s Vantage data analytics platform, the James Bond-esque AI satellite computer case, and cutting-edge battlefield tech including:

Think of it as an arsenal that not only goes vroom vroom and pew pew but also beep boo beep—increasingly, that's the sound of modern war.

Beyond the Battlefield: Global Government and Controversy

Palantir’s reach goes far beyond military applications. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the US government leaned on Palantir to wrangle outbreak data and organize the vaccine rollout. But not all their government contracts have been so universally welcomed.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) used Palantir’s surveillance infrastructure to plan and execute workplace raids — on a contract valued at $127 million. In the 2010s, the New Orleans Police Department quietly tested predictive policing technology with Palantir; if Hollywood taste governed naming, they’d have just called it “Minority Report.”

Internationally, Palantir’s technology is now wielded by:

In Britain, Palantir was embraced by government officials—but privacy advocates were not quite so warm. Civil liberties groups voiced concern over transparency and what Palantir might do behind the scenes, outside public view.

From the Pentagon to Pickleball: Going Commercial

Beyond the world of defense and high-level government, Palantir is racking up commercial wins. Banks and regulators use their anti-money laundering solutions. Companies like BP employ Palantir software to modernize digital operations. According to Palantir’s CTO, their AI clientele in 2023 included United Airlines, Lowe’s, General Mills, and Tampa General Hospital.

Yes, even pickleball is being touched by Palantir’s reach. As a joke: if you thought pickleball paddles were loud, just wait until the Army’s Titan AI vehicle (yes, that one from Palantir) comes rumbling down your street.

All this explains why Palantir’s US commercial revenue jumped 54% last year. Their transformation from “data surveillance overlords” to “AI innovation leaders” is no accident—it’s a strategic, lucrative shift.

The Eccentric Leadership: Peter Thiel and Alex Karp

Palantir’s origin story springs from two unlikely co-founders:

The Palantir subreddit (~100,000 traders strong) has become an online echo chamber of meme-stock glory, inspirational Karp quotes, and more than a dash of chaotic energy.

Speaking of Karp, he’s a contradiction: he’s partnered with Thiel (a conservative), but he himself backs Democrats (Kamala Harris included), enjoys trail running, loves Denver, and generally leans left—all of which would have made him an anomaly in 1980s Silicon Valley. As one journalist joked, you’d be excused for thinking Karp is “a new type of guy”—unclassifiable but endlessly fascinating.

Their leadership mix is a study in contrasts—strange bedfellows who reflect a revival of Cold War-era partnerships between the government and bleeding-edge tech firms. As Margaret O’Meara puts it, there’s always been a shadowy alliance between the Valley and Washington, even if today’s players are much more public about their government ties.

Silicon Valley’s New Bravado in Public Service

Karp’s ethos signals a shift: where old-school defense firms kept quiet about cozy government relationships, today’s Silicon Valley upstarts are out and proud about selling to the Pentagon. This shift means defense contractors now address not just government liaisons, but the general American public—and even Reddit meme traders—about the patriotic mission of national defense.

“The business of war has always been Silicon Valley’s business to some degree … the relationship waxes and wanes. Now, public consciousness is growing: companies like Thiel’s Palantir, or even Elon Musk’s businesses, win huge federal contracts, and they’re less sheepish about it than their predecessors.”

Despite rapid growth and industry hype, Palantir is still climbing. They haven’t yet displaced defense giants like Lockheed Martin or Raytheon in large-scale weapons systems. But the possibility is there—and if it happens, it’ll be an unprecedented paradigm shift for American defense.

The Final Word: Eyes on Palantir

Unlike Lockheed or Boeing’s staid, buttoned-up execs, Palantir’s drumbeat is public, provocative, and shamelessly self-promotional. They’re selling themselves to America itself, and for now, the market seems to like what it’s hearing.

Whether or not this is the future remains uncertain. But one thing is clear: the business of war and the business of tech have never been more entwined. And, like any good journalist (or citizen), I intend to watch closely—because someone needs to keep these disruptors honest.

Dramatic Reading: Actual Palantir Reddit Post Highlights

The culture, ambition, and audacity of Palantir reflect a new Silicon Valley—one not just content to “connect the world,” but to shape the very future of war, peace, and digital life itself.