In 2025, Palantir was no longer a startup among others. It has become a centerpiece of American state infrastructure, providing data analysis software to the army, tax agencies, hospitals and even fast food chains. Its trajectory questions: a private company, founded by libertarian figures of Silicon Valley, now shapes the way in which the American State collects, interprets and acts on its own data. How far can this transfer of sovereignty go?
From the hunt for fraudsters to the architecture of the public decision
Born in 2003 in the wake of the September 11 attacks, Palantir applies to the physical universe the methods of fraud designed at Paypal. Its Gotham software allows intelligence services, the police or the army to cross heterogeneous, often unstructured data, to extract suspicious profiles or targets. The Department of Defense, the CIA, the FBI, the IRS, the Pentagon Les Customs and the New York police are among its first customers.
What was behind the military and security domain extended to the civil world. Palantre teams the American health system (HHS), private insurers, hospitals, tax agencies, and even Wendy’s for logistics optimization today. The objective is always the same: to make the state more “effective” by industrializing the interconnection of its data.
An explicit ambition: to become the government’s operating system
Shyam Sankar, CTO of Palant, declared it in 2021: the ambition of the company is to become “the operating system of the American government”. The image is not metaphorical. Palantant offers its customers a unified software architecture capable of absorbing massive volumes of data, drawing predictive models, and piloting automated decisions.
The IRS is currently testing a mega-depth designed by Palantir, capable of centralizing all taxpayers’ tax data. The idea is to prioritize audit targets from algorithms, in order to maximize the most “profitable” upgrading. The Department of Health uses it to coordinate services related to Medicare and Medicaid, which implies access to millions of medical records.
Power without counter-power
Palantant is not a neutral company. Its founder Peter Thiel defends a radical libertarian vision, hostile to representative democracy. During a speech at the Libertopia conference in 2010, he said: “Perhaps you can never win an election to do what you want. But technology offers a way to change the world unilaterally. »»
This ideology is embodied in the very governance of the company. Thanks to a structure of differentiated voting rights (the “Class F Shares”), the founders retain almost 50 % of the voting rights while only holding 6 % of the capital. This gives them absolute power over strategic decisions, without real liable.
From algorithm to lethality
Palantir is not content to analyze the data. It injects them into critical decision -making systems, including military. The company claims its participation in targeting operations, integrated into what the American army calls “Kill Chain”: the sequence ranging from the detection of a threat to its neutralization.
This proximity to military operations becomes a marketing argument. Palantir presents himself as a company made for difficult times and welcomes his ability to act where others refuse for political fear.
An assumed shock strategy
Palant’s success is based on a double lever: crisis and fear. The company thrives on the systemic failures of public institutions, which it identifies, amplifies and claims to resolve. His speech is based on a criticism of the classic military-industrial complex, deemed ineffective, and a promise of technological disruption. Shiam Sankar denounces “the financialization of defense” and calls for a “reform”, of which Palantir would be the instrument.
This rhetoric works. In 2024, Palantir replaced Ford in the S&P 100, and saw his income climb to nearly $ 2.9 billion, including 55 % from government contracts. The Trump administration, in particular via the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), would be ready to entrust to Palant the software overhaul of all public systems, from health to health.
In Europe, a limited breakthrough … except at the heart of French intelligence
If Palant has since its inception has the ambition of establishing itself in Europe since its inception, its presence remains relatively contained to this day. In France, the American company nevertheless has several major industrial customers, including Airbus, Forvia, Stellantis and Société Générale.
But a particular case draws attention: since 2016, Palant team has been teaming the DGSI, following the attacks of November 13, 2015. Faced with the emergency, this solution had been chosen as a rapid response to strengthen the processing and correlation of data within the intelligence services. However, this decision had aroused wide concern within the state apparatus. Due to the challenges of sovereignty, all of the actors concerned – Ansi, DGA, intelligence communities – had agreed on the need to develop a national alternative.
It is with this in mind that the OTDH call for tenders (mass data processing tool) was launched in 2022, currently in the final selection phase. Three candidates remain in the running: the Lyonnais Blueway, Chapsvision, and Athéa – Coentreprise bringing together Atos and Thales. The outcome of this highly strategic procedure is eagerly awaited.
