Palantir CEO defends surveillance tech as contracts with US govt, including ICE, boost sales

DENVER, Colorado – Palantir Technologies chief executive Alex Karp defended the company’s surveillance technology as it reported a big jump in sales on Feb 2, saying it has safeguards to prevent government overreach, without mentioning US immigration enforcement efforts in Minnesota that have drawn widespread protests.

The data analytics company said revenue from the US government spiked 66 per cent in the fourth quarter from the year-ago period to US$570 million (S$725 million). Total sales of US$1.41 billion exceeded analysts’ estimates, and the company said it anticipates a big jump in sales, partly due to government contracts in 2026.

The company’s shares jumped 5 per cent in extended trading.

Companies working with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are attracting more scrutiny as Americans have turned solidly against the agency’s aggressive tactics following the fatal shootings of two US citizens in separate incidents in January. In 2025, Palantir won a contract to develop surveillance systems for immigration enforcement.

Over the weekend, France’s CapGemini said it would sell a small US unit that has a contract with ICE after criticism from French lawmakers and others.

In a post-earnings call, Mr Karp said the company was “supporting in a critical manner, some of the most interesting, intricate, unusual operations that the US government has been involved in”, but did not specify which government programmes Palantir was engaged in.

Denver-based Palantir has increasingly been marketing military-grade artificial intelligence (AI) tools to businesses through its AI platform, which helps companies integrate and develop the technology. It has emerged as one of the best-performing AI stocks, with shares gaining 1,700 per cent over the last three years.

“It should indeed be uncontroversial that the single most effective means of guarding against incursions into our private lives is to invest in the development of a technical platform that makes possible constraints on government action and investigation through granular permissioning capabilities,” Mr Karp said in a letter to shareholders.

He said the company’s tech ensures that the “state and its agents can see only what ought to be seen, and functional audit logs, to ensnare both external and internal threats”.

Still, its shares are down more than 15 per cent so far in February as Wall Street questions Palantir’s sky-high valuation, with a 12-month-forward price-to-earnings ratio of 140.5.

“Valuation question marks won’t disappear,” said eToro analyst Zavier Wong. “Palantir remains priced for perfection, which means it will need to continue executing in future quarters.”

Big revenue jump expected

The company, founded by tech billionaire Peter Thiel and with the Central Intelligence Agency as one of its early backers, has boosted its sales with a litany of government contracts. It expects revenue between US$7.18 billion and US$7.20 billion in 2026 – a 60 per cent increase from 2025.

Mr Thiel was an early backer of US President Donald Trump and has close ties with key Washington lawmakers, including Vice-President J.D. Vance, whom he supported in a 2022 US Senate race.

Palantir won a US$30 million contract from ICE in April 2025 to develop a system that identifies undocumented immigrants and tracks self-deportations, which, as at June 3, was its largest single award from the agency, among 46 federal contract actions since 2011.

“Freedom from unwarranted government surveillance... requires the construction of a technical system that is built to make possible oversight of its own use and limit, not expand, the material and information subject to access,” Mr Karp said.

Palantir forecast first-quarter sales between US$1.53 billion and US$1.54 billion, above an estimate of US$1.32 billion, according to data compiled by global financial infrastructure and data provider LSEG.

Sales to US businesses in 2026 are expected to grow at least 115 per cent to more than US$3.14 billion, accelerating from 109 per cent growth in 2025. REUTERS