Silicon Valley tech companies are reportedly forming a technology alliance to jointly bid for US government defense contracts.
Defense technology company Palantir and startup Anduril appear to be the leaders of the consortium, currently in talks with several well-known companies including Elon Musk's SpaceX and artificial intelligence leader OpenAI. Its goal is to challenge traditional American defense giants such as Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, and Raytheon.
Palantir and Anduril plan to announce the details of the alliance next month. According to a source familiar with the matter, this will be an attempt by a new generation of companies to dominate US defense contracts. Another participant believes that this is a more effective way to sell cutting-edge weapons and other technologies to the US government.
Earlier this month, Palantir and Anduril announced the integration of Palantir's artificial intelligence platform and Anduril's personnel management platform software Lattice, and revealed that they are in the process of forming a new alliance to ensure that the US government remains a world leader in the field of artificial intelligence.
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According to Palantir and Anduril, the collaboration between the two companies will build, train, and deploy defense specific artificial intelligence models onto the US national security system. Earlier, Anduril announced that it had established a partnership with OpenAI to develop and deploy artificial intelligence solutions for US national security missions.
These cooperative foundations have laid a good foundation for Silicon Valley companies to compete for defense orders, and the investment market is also quite optimistic about the defense applications of artificial intelligence.
At the close of the US stock market last Friday, Palantir's stock price rose 8.5% to $80.55, setting a record for the highest closing price. It is also one of the best performing stocks in the S&P 500 index this year, with a cumulative increase of 369%.
If it can successfully form alliances with SpaceX and OpenAI, the market may be more enthusiastic about its stocks, one reason being that Palantir will also ride on Musk's political ride this time.
As the head of the government efficiency department appointed by Trump, Musk had previously announced that he would conduct an audit of Pentagon spending. He is particularly dissatisfied with the high cost of the F-35 fighter jet, which is a star product of Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman is the main subcontractor of the aircraft.
At the same time, Musk's SpaceX and Boeing have always been direct competitors in the aerospace and defense business, and Musk has never been reluctant to criticize Boeing. This means that when Minister Ma officially takes office, Boeing, which is already plagued by negative news, will face even stricter scrutiny, creating conditions for the influx of new companies.