Palantir leaders said the US technology company has clinched a deal to sell more software to HD Hyundai, ramping up its heavy-industry work in South Korea.
The agreement is worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Palantir over several years, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday. Palantir declined to comment on terms of the deal.
The companies organised a signing ceremony at office space Palantir set up for the World Economic Forum's annual meeting this week in the Swiss resort of Davos. The agreement marks an expansion of work Palantir began in 2021 with HD Hyundai, one of the world's largest shipbuilders.
HD Hyundai is now manufacturing ships around 30 per cent faster using Palantir software to speed up operations, the companies have said.
Palantir CEO Alex Karp told Reuters in an interview in Davos that he was "very bullish" on the Korean market, which he called "one of the more innovative, interesting, artistic places in the world."
Palantir's software allows customers to put disparate data sources into a single platform and point out actions to take through automation and artificial intelligence. With HD Hyundai, Palantir has signed an enterprise-wide deal, after earlier work in specific areas such as construction equipment and oil.
Shipbuilding, usually slow, is central to the engagement. Palantir has worked with HD Hyundai to manage data on materials, financial planning, machines and other sources, with automation able to flag moves that HD Hyundai could make to stay ahead of schedule.
The shipbuilding work spans commercial cargo, naval ships and unmanned surface vessels. Outside of Korea, Karp said sales to companies internationally are not a big focus for Palantir.
"We're doing so well in America, we have to selectively engage abroad," he said.
US President Donald Trump's threats of new, higher tariffs against European nations opposed to his ambition of acquiring Greenland are fuelling concerns over a return to the global trade disruptions that marked much of last year. The re-emerging uncertainty caused stocks to fall on Tuesday.
Asked how global trade concerns were affecting Palantir's business, Karp said, "The demand for our product in America is greater than we can satisfy."
The US market accounted for three-fourths of Palantir's business as of September 30, growing 77 per cent from the year-ago quarter to $883 million.
Though its sales to US companies have jumped, some of its public-sector work has placed Palantir at the centre of cultural and political flashpoints. It has notably provoked protests and drawn some former employees' criticism for assisting the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and Israel during its military actions in Gaza.
Palantir has said it is defending the West and Western values.
(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in DAVOS, Switzerland; Editing by Franklin Paul and Alexander Smith and Joe Bavier)