Palantir and Anduril are reportedly forming a tech consortium to bid on defense contracts

Two major defense technology players, Palantir and Anduril, are talking to technology companies including SpaceX, OpenAI, Saronic, and Scale AI about forming a consortium to bid for Pentagon contracts, according to a report by the Financial Times .

The aim, the FT says, is to challenge the dominance of “top” defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing. One unnamed participant described it as an effort to “provide a new generation of defense contractors,” while another said it would be a very effective way to sell the government advanced weapons and other technology.

The first partnership could be announced in January, according to the report.

Palantir and Anduril (both named after magical objects in JRR Tolkien's “Lord of the Rings”) hinted that something like this was in the works earlier this month, with the announcement of a merger between Palantir's AI Platform and Anduril's Lattice software. At the time, the companies said they were “launching a new initiative to ensure the US government leads the world in artificial intelligence.”