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The relatively recent rapid advances in AI, computing power, data mining capacity and unobtrusive surveillance technology seem to be ultimately owned and controlled by a small number of uber-wealthy corporate oligarchs. Many of these same oligarchs have tried and largely succeeded in convincing many governments that their technological solutions offer salvation from a multitude of thorny problems of modern governance — but at an eye-watering financial cost and inevitably with some loss of data confidentiality and even potential data abuse by authoritarian regimes against citizens.
The key characteristics of the new state-corporate symbiosis include:
Palantir Technologies, a leading US-based software company, provides IT solutions for governments, intelligence agencies and commercial clients, including data integration, analysis and AI platforms for very large data sets, with a focus on decision-making, military and surveillance applications. Established in 2003, three of the co-founders retain substantial and controlling ownership: Peter Thiel, Chairman; Alex Karp, CEO; and Stephen Cohen, President. Major institutional shareholders include Vanguard Group, BlackRock and State Street Corporation.
It is reported that the company received early funding from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) company In-Q-Tel.
Palantir now has substantial operations and clients in North America, Europe and elsewhere. Its growing market capitalization is variously quoted by market analysts at over $300 billion and possibly $350 billion.
The company has an extremely close relationship with the Trump White House. For example, Vice President JD Vance is a former Palantir employee who has long been mentored and financed by Thiel. This has included a $15 million contribution to Vance’s 2022 senatorial campaign. Palantir staff have also been seconded to government departments in Donald Trump’s second presidency. Stephen Miller, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security, is also reported to have a close relationship with Palantir, including significant stockholding in the company.
It has also been reported that Palantir supports radical-right Christian nationalist causes that form part of the Project 2025 movement seeking to impose permanent illiberal Christian supremacist governance on the US. For example, Palantir was a corporate sponsor of Trump’s Freedom 250 Christian nationalist event, Rededicate 250, in May, which featured Trump’s cabinet member Pete Hegseth, the self-styled Secretary of War and an aggressive proponent of Christian supremacy. Other sponsors included Deloitte, Mastercard and United Airlines. The event was criticized for allegedly rewriting American history and for its evangelistic style in promoting religious supremacy contrary to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution.
In addition to Palantir’s well-established business relationships in the US with corporations and both federal and state government functions, the following are four examples of Palantir’s major prospecting and client activities in three other countries — the UK, Switzerland and Israel. These are followed by an examination of the stated political ideology, motivations and commitments of Palantir’s top executives, and questions about the company’s authoritarian ethos and its close engagement with hegemonic authoritarian regimes.