Exclusive-Palantir inks HD Hyundai deal worth hundreds of millions, CEO bullish on Korea

By Jeffrey Dastin

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 20 (Reuters) – Palantir leaders said the U.S. technology company has clinched a large 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 planned a signing ceremony at office space Palantir has set up for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting this week in the Swiss resort of Davos.

The deal marks an expansion of work Palantir began in 2021 with HD Hyundai, one of the world’s largest shipbuilders.

Since then, HD Hyundai is manufacturing ships around 30% faster by using Palantir software to speed up operations, the companies have said.

Palantir CEO Alex Karp told Reuters he was “very bullish” on the Korean market, which he called “one of the more innovative, interesting, artistic places in the world”.

However, sales to companies outside the U.S. are not a focus, Karp said in an interview in Davos.

“We’re doing so well in America, we have to selectively engage abroad,” he added.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in DAVOS, Switzerland, Editing by Franklin Paul and Alexander Smith)