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Palantir shares rose more than 9% intraday Wednesday as chief executive Alex Karp used CNBC to attack how leading AI firms sell models and promote a Nvidia-backed engine for U.S. agencies. Forbes reported the morning stock move; CNBC later listed Palantir at $125.73, up 7.77%. Karp's complaint was aimed at who controls customer data, trained model weights, and government AI deployments.
Nvidia said Palantir will use Nvidia Nemotron open models to build custom AI systems for U.S. government agencies, including deployments in air-gapped environments on Nvidia accelerated computing. Agencies can train the models on their own data and keep ownership of the resulting weights, Nvidia said. Palantir's AIP, Ontology, Foundry, and Apollo products handle the data-authorization, deployment, and audit layer.
Key Takeaways
- Palantir shares rose more than 9% intraday as attention focused on its Nvidia-backed AI engine.
- Alex Karp told CNBC chief executives are livid about AI fees and data-control risks.
- Nvidia says the Nemotron system can run in air-gapped environments with customer-owned model weights.
- The companies have not named an agency buyer or contract value for the engine.
AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.
On CNBC, Karp said chief executives are "livid" with leading AI companies, according to Forbes. He accused those firms of imposing a "wealth tax" on businesses by charging high fees while collecting information that can improve their own models. One host told him he sounded angry. "This is the voice of American business that is being channeled through me," Karp replied, according to the same account.
His sharpest line was aimed at national security work. "Are we really going to outsource the battlefield of this country to the consensus view in Silicon Valley?" Karp said on CNBC. "That is effing insane." In the same CNBC segment, Karp said Palantir's technical customers want control of their compute, models, data stack and "alpha," Yahoo Finance reported from Stocktwits coverage of the interview.
Yahoo Finance also reported that Karp said trust needs to be rebuilt and that Palantir now sells a product that lets customers switch between models. He said questions about data ownership, caching, prompt security, and token use need answers.
Palantir's June 29 announcement described the Nvidia work as an intelligent engine for running Nvidia AI and Nemotron open models in sovereign environments, with a focus on U.S. government agencies and U.S. critical infrastructure. Nvidia framed the target market as unusually large: about 3 million civilian employees working across government functions that resemble private-sector enterprises.
The examples extended beyond defense. Nvidia said the same government stack could apply to commerce, energy, healthcare, agriculture, education, and transportation work, including food safety and interstate highway safety. CNBC's company profile lists Palantir's four main software platforms as Gotham, Foundry, Apollo, and AIP, the same products that sit underneath the Nvidia announcement.
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Nvidia's blog put the same point in deployment terms. Agencies can run customized Nemotron models on their own infrastructure, train them on their own data, and retain ownership of the resulting weights. Palantir's operating layer supplies explicit data authorization, architecturally enforced isolation and full auditability. Nvidia said open models can be inspected, adapted and deployed in sensitive environments, including regulated industries where closed systems may create data-security or privacy problems.
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The announcement does not settle Karp's complaint about rival model providers. Forbes' account did not quote him citing a specific customer contract from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or another model provider. The companies' materials describe product design rather than a finding against a rival.
Nvidia named U.S. agencies and critical-infrastructure operators as target users, but its blog did not identify an agency customer or contract value.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Alex Karp say on CNBC?
Karp said chief executives are livid with leading AI firms and accused model providers of imposing a wealth tax through high fees and data-control arrangements. He also called outsourcing battlefield AI decisions to Silicon Valley consensus effing insane.
What did Palantir and Nvidia announce?
Palantir and Nvidia announced an engine for running Nvidia AI and Nemotron open models in sovereign environments, focused on U.S. government agencies and critical infrastructure operators.
Why do model weights matter here?
Nvidia says agencies can train customized Nemotron models on their own data and retain ownership of the resulting weights, which encode operational knowledge from those deployments.
Did Palantir and Nvidia name an agency customer?
No. Nvidia's blog named U.S. agencies and critical-infrastructure operators as target users, but it did not identify an initial agency buyer or contract value.
How did Palantir's stock react?
Forbes reported Palantir shares rose more than 9% Wednesday morning. CNBC's quote page later listed Palantir at $125.73, up 7.77%.
AI-generated summary, reviewed by an editor. More on our AI guidelines.
Marcus Schuler
Editor-in-Chief and founder of Implicator.ai. Former ARD correspondent and senior broadcast journalist with 10+ years covering tech. Writes daily briefings on policy and market developments. Based in San Francisco. E-mail: editor@implicator.ai
