Palantir's FAA Setback Fails to Shake Rosenblatt's Conviction as AI Power Struggle Escalates

Rosenblatt maintains $225 target despite Air Space Intelligence winning the FAA SMART contract; Palantir deepens European ties and NATO deployment.

Palantir Technologies may have watched an $875 million contract slip through its fingers, but that hasn't deterred Rosenblatt from keeping the faith. Analyst John McPeake reaffirmed his buy rating on the stock Wednesday, maintaining a $225 price target even after rival Air Space Intelligence captured the lucrative FAA deal tied to the agency's new AI-driven air traffic control system, SMART.

The reasoning is straightforward: the US Federal Aviation Administration is leaning heavily into automated data analytics as it overhauls its infrastructure, and Palantir's established interfaces for processing complex data streams keep it in the conversation. Industry observers suggest the company's specialized software modules could still find a role in the operational integration of the new system down the line.

Building Bridges in Europe While Facing Headwinds

On the European front, Palantir is deepening its footprint in government business. The company brought on Watson, a former deputy leader of the UK Labour Party, to strengthen ties with public institutions. At the product level, Palantir rolled out updates to its Foundry software, including enhancements to the Object Explorer and refinements to the Ontology Manager—tools that help enterprise clients model and connect operational data sets.

Not everything is smooth sailing, however. The company has encountered isolated setbacks in the European public sector, though specifics about the project scope and any corporate comment remain undisclosed. Government contracts continue to be a cornerstone of Palantir's business, but they carry political and contractual risks that keep investors alert to news of terminated agency programs and future contract awards.

Lonsdale Takes Aim at Industry Fear-Mongering

The broader AI landscape has become a battleground, and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale stepped into the fray Friday at the Reuters Momentum AI Austin conference. He accused parts of the industry of deliberately stoking fears about existential AI risks, arguing the playbook is simple: drum up dramatic warnings to push policymakers toward regulations that benefit established players while locking newcomers out of the market. It was a pointed jab at competitors who wield safety concerns as a shield for market protection.

Palantir's influence is now rippling through the ownership structures of other tech heavyweights. Reuters reported Thursday that AI company Anthropic is pursuing a restructuring that would grant CEO Dario Amodei and six co-founders 50.1 percent of voting rights—a move directly modeled on Palantir's control architecture, which preserves founders' final say despite massive capital raises. It's a template that rising AI pioneers find hard to resist, ensuring they aren't beholden to the short-term demands of outside financiers.

Yet Palantir itself is drawing hard lines with the very model builders it inspires. In mid-September, the company reportedly joined forces with Nvidia and Booz Allen Hamilton to threaten exclusion of modern AI models from their systems. The demand directed at providers like Anthropic and OpenAI is unambiguous: irrevocable guarantees against intellectual property misuse and the storage of sensitive data.

NATO, Thales, and the Fight for Digital Sovereignty

The security sector is where the dividing lines cut deepest. NATO selected Palantir's Maven Smart System for deployment across its headquarters, a win that has provoked European pushback. As Reuters reported on September 17, French defense contractor Thales is advancing its own alternative to software-driven NATO command operations. The European debate over digital sovereignty is colliding head-on with the dominance of US technology.

Palantir occupies the most sensitive nodes of Western military infrastructure. That position grants the company unmatched pricing power while simultaneously making it a target of state industrial policy. Investors are currently valuing the business at a market capitalization of EUR 400.14 billion. The stock traded at EUR 165.80 on Monday, a modest daily decline of 0.4 percent. In German trading, shares slipped 0.8 percent to EUR 165.00 as cautious sentiment across European exchanges weighed on the stock.

Insider Sales and the Bigger Picture

When executives take profits during such phases, it's par for the course on Wall Street. Director Alexander D. Moore sold 16,000 Class-A shares in mid-September under a pre-arranged trading plan—a footnote in the larger narrative.

What matters more is that Palantir is actively rewriting its industry's rulebook. The company refuses to tolerate opaque models within its software architecture and imposes its data protection standards even on the sector's biggest names. Whether European rivals like Thales can genuinely close the gap in the months ahead remains an open question. Until then, Palantir stays the driving force at the intersection of software, state power, and defense—a proposition that offers investors both opportunity and risk in equal measure.