What does Palantir do?
That's something we often hear and some have voiced, but what does Palantir really do? Is it a black box as some have argued?
It’s a pretty recurrent topic. When Palantir is the object of some specific targeting or questioning, the same question arises. When the stock happens to rise or drop in a significant way, especially these days PLTR 0.00%↑ , this very sentence is asked: Ok, but what does Palantir do?
Of course, this isn’t a new thing, and ever since Palantir’s irruption in the stock market back in 2020, people of notable influence have been making statements like “Palantir is a black box”, “No one knows what Palantir does” or “It’s a shady company”. Influencers and entertainers like Jim Cramer have been at the front of this effort, celebrating the success of the company when it goes up and denigrating it when it goes down. Whatever pleases the viewers, of course.
Other people that seemed more serious could be the likes of Cathie Wood and her ARK Invest, specifically when she bought during the meme stock frenzy and held her shares up until about a year ago. Her reasoning was that there was a new player with the potential to rival Palantir in the government side (DataWalk) and that Palantir no longer held the edge in the area. She recently started to buy back again but her percentage is just a tiny little part of what it once used to be. The question stands, however, and Cathie Wood and ARK never really answered it. What does Palantir do?
Beyond the obvious and recurring topics, like the fact that Palantir is an AI company, a data processing platform provider or a corporation that helps ICE separate families at the border (all of which it does), Palantir goes beyond all of that. Maybe it sounds simplistic, but a good way of defining the company could be that they help solve puzzles. They make things work properly.
Because we have platforms like Gotham, that pushes intelligence to the most of its practical abilities and makes it actionable to help locate, deter and disable the enemy from attacking the West. Gotham doesn’t magically perform a physical effort, but they allow it to happen flawlessly, or at the very least with the smallest amount of data leakage and at the same time keeping the human in control. A realistic approach to AI and software with the capacity to trigger nuclear consequence.
On the other hand, we have Foundry. The commercial platform is the best example of what Palantir really is all about; making things easier, helping solve the puzzle. But what puzzle? Well, that’s up to every individual client to decide, to tailor this powerful tool to their needs.
If you have difficulty with your eyes and your vision, what will you do? You can force your eyes, damaging them in the long run, or you can wear glasses that will stay on your face for the rest of your life, because you can’t live without them. The same applies for corporations considering the use of Foundry. It will become a necessity. And it is right now for some companies.
So, back to the original question, what does Palantir do? Just ask the big players. Ask Tyson how they managed to generate over $200M in value added only from using Foundry during COVID. Ask yourself why John Deere is beating expectations so much. Ask Coca-Cola why they are coming back to Foundry, even if they don’t want to, making entire parts of their supply chain come along, like their bottling divisions in Europe and the Americas.
The answer is simple. Palantir is not a black box, it is not part of a conspiracy. They make things work for their clients, as long as it keeps pushing the West forward. And they won’t apologize for it.
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