Palantir might have simply made probably the most essential transfer of the yr, but it did not include a giant launch or viral demo.
As an alternative, it got here through a collaboration announcement with Lumen Applied sciences, a telecom firm that is not normally mentioned in the identical language as AI leaders. However this is not a standard association for infrastructure. CEO Alex Karp thinks this silent alignment would possibly decide who units the foundations for AI and who will get left behind.
Karp advised Fox Enterprise:
We’re gonna both have AI and decide the foundations, or our adversaries can have it, and so they’ll decide the foundations.
“We’re in an arms race here,” he ominously mentioned.
Karp has been warning for a very long time about how AI might harm the competitiveness of the U.S. and the ability of huge corporations. However this contract reveals that his agency is now not completely satisfied simply sounding the alarm; it is now developing the backend. Lumen supplies the pipes, whereas Palantir provides the fashions. They promise real-time information transportation and large-scale inference on the edge, specializing in industries the place latency shouldn’t be solely costly but additionally essential.
Palantir is quietly increasing its attain — all the best way to the sting of America’s AI infrastructure.
Picture supply: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photographs
The timing is necessary. Palantir is not making an attempt to get consideration with headlines. With elections developing, information heart prices going up, and AI governance getting a variety of consideration from regulators, they are not making an attempt to get consideration. It strikes issues round on a bigger board.
Why Palantir selected Lumen — and why it issues now
It might appear unusual that Palantir (PLTR) selected Lumen (LUMN) as a accomplice.
Lumen is not a well known model within the AI area, but it surely owns and runs one of many greatest fiber networks within the U.S. That is the type of infrastructure required to transmit information shortly, safely, and on a large scale. That is the purpose the place Karp thinks most companies will run into bother.
Extra AI Shares:
- Extra police businesses undertake AI, elevating effectivity — and concern
- How AI Might Monitor Mind Well being and Discover Dementia Sooner
- ChatGPT newest consumer perk sparks controversy
- Bezos’s AI bubble warning backed by huge names in banking
“This is why these infrastructure things are crazy important,” he mentioned. “In order to make it work, what do you need? You need infrastructure that can actually run the models, get the data there in a secure and cheap enough way.”
Associated: Amazon and Chewy simply received a serious vote of confidence: Right here’s why
Palantir is not merely concerned with pace; they’re additionally concerned with leverage. The corporate’s ontology-based method to AI wants entry to real-time, operational information from prospects within the telecom, vitality, and navy industries. By placing its platform instantly right into a communications spine like Lumen’s, it skips a step and will get nearer to the entrance traces of constructing selections in actual time.
An arms race with out missiles — however with penalties
Karp’s phrases weren’t delicate.
The phrase “arms race” implies that one facet wins and the opposite loses. This collaboration looks as if it’s preparing for that kind of world. It makes Palantir not merely a software program firm, but additionally a programs architect for stopping issues within the digital age.
Transactions like these are extra than simply methods to develop a enterprise; they’re additionally about politics. In a time when AI regulation is changing into stricter and international locations are racing to make their infrastructure stronger, these transactions are extra than simply enterprise offers. Karp’s declare that enemies would possibly “build it, and we will be buying everything from them, including our ideas of how to run our country,” appears exaggerated at first, however when you concentrate on the place generative AI, sovereign clouds, and navy tech are all coming collectively, it is sensible.
Associated: Amazon and Chewy simply received a serious vote of confidence: Right here’s why
Individuals who do not like Palantir sometimes say that the company makes threats appear worse than they’re to get contracts. The U.S. is secretly reclassifying AI as a significant nationwide asset, and politicians are clamoring for guardrails. The hazard is not overreaction anymore. It is too late.
What this implies for traders — and the place Palantir may go subsequent
Karp mentioned the Lumen transaction is “a very large deal, and we’re very serious about it.” Your entire monetary parameters of the settlement haven’t been made public. That might not be sufficient for traders.
Palantir shares have elevated by greater than 35% during the last three months, pushed by the corporate’s acquisition of further authorities contracts and elevated enterprise within the personal sector. Nonetheless, traders on Wall Avenue stay divided on the corporate, with some involved about its worth and the potential that it will not observe via on sky-high expectations.
Associated: Qualcomm simply crossed a crimson line in China: Right here’s what occurs now
Nonetheless, this Lumen transfer would possibly change that story, not solely due to the dimensions of the transaction but additionally due to how lengthy it will likely be seen.
Palantir’s Q2 2025 financials present an organization hitting scale:
- Income: $1.004 billion, up 48% yr over yr.
- U.S. business income: $306 million (up 93% YoY); authorities income: $426 million (up 53% YoY).
- Adjusted working earnings: $464 million (margin: 46%).
- Free money circulate: $569 million (margin: 57%).
- Internet earnings (non-GAAP): $327 million.
- Raised steering: Full-year income now projected between $4.142 billion and $4.150 billion.
With a lot momentum, the Lumen integration is greater than symbolic. It reveals that Palantir desires to be one of the best at analyzing information and the infrastructure it operates on. It might be a turning level for long-term holders to change into extra deeply built-in into America’s digital spine.
