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American billionaire Alex Karp, chief executive of Palantir Technologies Inc., said Silicon Valley "would not even exist" without the support of the U.S. military, pressing his long-running argument that the technology industry owes its rise to government.
"The valley was built as a hybrid," Karp said this week, describing a model that brought together universities, government agencies and private capital. He said Silicon Valley grew out of military support and government-backed research.
The argument is a familiar one for Karp, 59, who co-founded Palantir in 2003 with Peter Thiel and others and built it into one of the largest software suppliers to the Pentagon, U.S. intelligence agencies and allied militaries. He has spent years criticizing tech workers and companies that refuse to work on defense projects.
A political reset
The remarks follow a week in which Karp recast his politics. In an interview published Nov. 11, he said he had been "a Democrat my whole life," described Palantir's products as "essentially progressive" and said he was open to backing a Democratic candidate in the 2028 presidential election, though not a socialist one.
He also said he had criticized President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement in private. Palantir's software is used by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The comments drew pushback from critics who pointed to Karp's $1 million donation to MAGA Inc., the pro-Trump super political action committee, in 2024 and to his past attacks on the Democratic Party's immigration and social policies.
Palantir's rise
Palantir has won billions of dollars in U.S. government contracts and its stock has surged since 2023 on demand for its artificial intelligence platform, turning Karp into one of the richest technology executives in the U.S. He holds his fortune mostly in Palantir shares and options, and Forbes ranks him among the world's billionaires.
Karp, who holds a law degree from Stanford University and a doctorate in social theory from Goethe University Frankfurt, has also drawn attention in Europe this month over his purchase of about 15,000 hectares of forest in Sweden.
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