Over 100 European banks and asset managers increased Palantir stakes by 60%+ in one year, reaching $27B total despite documented human rights concerns.
Key Takeaways
Norges Bank is the largest European holder at $5.1B (29M shares); Amundi ($3B), Legal & General ($2.5B), Barclays ($2.2B), Deutsche Bank ($2B) follow.
Much of the growth is passive: index funds auto-buy Palantir as one of the largest US public companies, bypassing explicit exclusion lists.
Palantir’s Maven Smart System, which uses Anthropic’s Claude, is Pentagon-designated critical infrastructure for target acquisition, drone guidance, and classified data fusion.
MSCI scores Palantir 2/10 on civil liberties and human rights, yet none of the 127 entities investigated list it on their exclusion registries.
Isolated divestments exist: Storebrand sold $24M in Oct 2024; Dutch teacher pension fund faces investor petition. Both remain exceptions.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters note the index-fund framing undercuts the moral narrative: passive holders of Meta face identical structural complicity, making Palantir singling-out feel inconsistent.
