Palantir's new valuation reaches $281 billion, entering the ranks of the highest market capitalization technology companies in the United States.

The list of the top ten technology companies in the U.S. by market capitalization has added a new member. AI data analytics software provider Palantir saw a slight pump of about 8% on Thursday, with the company recently announcing a valuation of up to $281 billion, moving up to ninth place, surpassing Salesforce's market capitalization of $268 billion, which currently ranks tenth. Earlier this year, Palantir had already pushed aside traditional tech giants Cisco and IBM.

The highest market capitalization technology company is Microsoft, with a market capitalization of $3.3 trillion, followed by Apple and Nvidia. Over the past year, Plantir's stock has pumped more than five times, and by 2025, its stock price has increased by about 58%, making it the best-performing company in the S&P 500 index for the second consecutive year. In recent months, while other technology peers have been dragged down by the impact of Trump's tariff policies and concerns about economic slowdown, Plantir has maintained its upward trend, completely unaffected by market panic.

What kind of company is Palantir?

Palantir (Palantir Technologies Inc, NASDAQ symbol PLTR, was founded in 2003, with founders including company chairman Peter Thiel and CEO Alex Karp, who is also a co-founder of PayPal. Palantir has a close relationship with the U.S. government, with its most well-known business collaboration being assisting the U.S. Army in developing AI software. Palantir's revenue grew by 45% last quarter, reaching $373 million. This includes a contract worth $178 million, and many investors still struggle to understand what kind of company Palantir is. In simple terms, Palantir is an AI cloud system and big data company that builds AI large language models and cloud systems for enterprises and government agencies.

Build artificial intelligence systems for the U.S. Army

In a revenue report letter to shareholders, Palantir disclosed that CEO Alex Karp praised the company's controversial U.S. defense business, stating that critics in Silicon Valley have changed their views and are beginning to emulate Palantir's approach.

Analysts believe the valuation is unreasonable.

Although Palantir ranks among the top tech companies in terms of market capitalization, it is still much smaller than Salesforce in terms of sales and profits. Palantir's trailing earnings ratio (Trailing Earnings) was 520 times, and the forward earnings ratio (Forward Earnings) for the next year is 200 times, with estimated revenue at 90 times. Analysts believe Palantir has signs of a pump, with Jefferies analyst Brent Thill writing in a report on May 6: "The fundamentals are still relatively active, but we believe the valuation is unreasonable." He rated Palantir stock as a sell.

Including Salesforce, the average price-to-earnings ratio of the other 10 top technology companies is about 58 times, while Broadcom and Tesla are around 160; the forward price-to-earnings ratio of technology companies averages about 37.5, and analysts believe that Tesla's 137 is an inflated number. In terms of revenue for technology companies, the average multiple is 10.2, with Nvidia having the highest premium at 22.

The CEO doesn't care about investors selling Palantir.

Palantir's revenue exceeded expectations, but after announcing Q1 results, the stock price fell by over 12%. Analysts believe that the slowdown in Palantir's international business sales has caused some investors to feel concerned, significantly estimating that the company will accelerate its growth, leading market investors to adopt a wait-and-see attitude regarding future developments.

Alex Karp and CNBC host Brian Sullivan stated, "You don't have to buy our stock, we are happy to work with the best talents in the world and dominate, you can follow the trend or not."

This article states that Palantir's new valuation has reached 281 billion USD, entering the ranks of the highest market capitalization technology companies in the United States. It first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.