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Palantir Technologies is having a moment. The Denver-based data analytics behemoth and its chairman, billionaire edgelord Peter Thiel, have been the subject of local protests over the company’s work with oppressive federal regimes. Thiel was also mocked for his Antichrist obsession on the most recent episode of South Park. and recently made headlines when Palantir was among the corporations providing funding for Donald Trump’s White House ballroom, for which the East Wing was torn down this week.
Palantir’s residency in Denver brings a major spoke of the military-industrial complex to the Queen City, but the tech company is still cloaked in mystery to many locals. Here are five things to know about the company:
What Does Palantir Technologies do?
Palantir builds large-scale software platforms that integrate and analyze diverse data streams with artificial intelligence to help large organizations make decisions. Palantir’s initial focus was data-crunching for government agencies, primarily for intelligence and defense, but now the company is employed by a broad spectrum of commercial and government clients seeking to use mass data analytics to increase profits and efficiency. Its primary products are Gotham, focusing on intelligence, and Foundry, its enterprise engine.
Who Are Palantir’s Customers?
Palantir Technologies clients have included the U.S. Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the U.S. Army, U.S. intelligence agencies including the CIA, FBI and NSA, along with corporate clients like Walmart, Amazon, Pfizer and United Healthcare. The Israeli government is also a customer, as is the United Kingdom’s, Ukraine’s and NATO. Its stock price is up about 133 percent since the start of 2025, and has surged 1,800 percent since its initial public offering in 2020.
Why Is Palantir Headquartered in Denver?
When Palantir moved from Silicon Valley to the Tabor Center in Denver in 2020, CEO Alex Karp told investors in a letter announcing the move that the “engineering elite of Silicon Valley may know more than most about building software, but they do not know more about how society should be organized or what justice requires. Our company was founded in Silicon Valley. But we seem to share fewer and fewer of the technology sector’s values and commitments.” In September of this year, Palantir announced it was relocating from the Tabor Center to the affluent Cherry Creek neighborhood in Denver — a city that voted overwhelmingly against Trump in 2016, 2020 and 2024.
Why Is Palantir Controversial?
Palantir’s technology enhances authoritarian tools like surveillance, military targeting and immigration enforcement, prompting concerns about oversight and threats to civil liberties. This year, ICE contracted with Palantir to build a platform called ImmigrationOS to streamline identifying and deporting immigrants using artificial intelligence to identify and track non-U.S. citizens. Palantir’s AI products were also used by the Israeli government to identify targets in the war in Gaza, and its founder has been a controversial right-wing figure for over a decade. According to a United Nations report, Palantir provided the Israeli military with artificial intelligence technology able to integrate real-time battlefield data for automated decision-making.
Who Is Peter Thiel?
Thiel, a cofounder of Palantir along with Karp, was a PayPal founder and the first outside investor in Facebook. After a website, Valleywag, outed Thiel as gay in 2007, Thiel secretly bankrolled lawsuits against the site’s parent company, Gawker, eventually bankrupting the alt-media company through a lawsuit brought by Hulk Hogan. A longtime Trump supporter, Thiel has recently been giving talks to elite audiences about the Antichrist, as South Park brilliantly lampooned in its most recent episode.
