Palantir Surges on AI Demand, Apple Hits India Milestone

Bloomberg Tech broadcast live from San Francisco, covering significant market movements and company earnings. The show highlighted Palantir Technologies Inc. (NYSE:PLTR) as its stock surged over 25% following blockbuster earnings results, driven by what executives called "otherworldly" commercial demand.

Palantir's Blockbuster Earnings

Palantir's market cap reached $380.1 billion, marking a significant gain for the stock, which was on track for its best day since February 2024. The company reported US commercial sales of $764 million, representing a nearly 150% year-over-year increase. Overall US revenue saw strong growth of 115%. The company also raised its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to $8.15 billion to $8.16 billion, exceeding Wall Street expectations.

The full discussion can be found on Bloomberg Technology's YouTube channel.

Mariana Perez Mora, an aerospace and defense analyst at Bank of America Securities, reiterated a buy rating on Palantir with a price target of $255 per share. She noted that while the US commercial business is currently a key driver, larger contracts secured don't reflect the full potential backlog. Perez Mora emphasized that Palantir is "position[ed] in the right place, the right timing to benefit from actually being able to operationalize all this high momentum and all the demand." She also pointed out that the trailing 12-month average spending per US customer has increased by 67%, indicating both faster customer ramp-ups and legacy customers expanding their use of Palantir's ontology.

Palantir's core offering, AI-powered software that helps companies and governments analyze, make decisions on, or automate data-related processes, is proving increasingly valuable. The company's strategy of "owning the means of production in the AI context" is resonating with customers who find it difficult to implement AI solutions themselves. Perez Mora highlighted Palantir's unique pricing model based on measurable outcomes and its partnership approach, which fosters deep customer relationships and drives its high cash margins.

Apple's Surge in India

In other major tech news, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) surpassed $10 billion in annual sales in India for the first time in the last fiscal year. This milestone underscores Apple's expanding retail strategy and the surging demand for its devices in the Indian market. The iPhone was the primary driver of this sales surge, with MacBooks and iPads also contributing to the growth.

Palo Alto Networks and AI-Powered Cybersecurity

Palo Alto Networks Inc. (NASDAQ:PANW) Chairman and CEO Nikesh Arora joined the program to discuss the next generation of AI-powered cyber defense. The company is launching its new platform OS 12.2, featuring advanced virtual patching, an AI tool designed to identify vulnerabilities and stop attacks before traditional software patches are available. Arora explained that this release is about rebuilding the operating system of network security for the future, allowing products to perform tasks autonomously using AI agents.

Arora highlighted the vulnerability of AI models and the accelerated threat landscape. He noted that the average time to patch vulnerabilities is 55 days, but with AI-powered attacks, this window is shrinking. Palo Alto Networks has reduced its patch process to four hours, with the goal of further shortening it to eliminate the traditional wait time. The company's research team is actively identifying and patching vulnerabilities at an unprecedented speed.

Grab's Strong Q2 and Other Tech Earnings

Grab Holdings Ltd (NASDAQ:GRAB), the leading Southeast Asian super app, reported its second-quarter earnings, exceeding its annual earnings and sales forecasts due to robust ride-hailing and delivery demand. The company's CFO, Peter Oey, discussed the strong demand picture, noting that the momentum began early in the year and continued despite challenges like fuel crises. Grab saw its rides grow 28% year-over-year, with its on-demand business GMV up 21%. Oey also touched on the company's introduction of 'Group Rides' and its focus on grocery delivery, highlighting GrabMart's 54% transaction growth, which is 1.7 times faster than its food delivery business.

The show also briefly covered Snap Inc. (NYSE:SNAP) and Spotify Technology S.A. (NYSE:SPOT). Snap projected strong sales growth, with revenue expected to jump nearly 20% to $1.6 billion. Spotify saw user growth climb to 777 million in the second quarter, although Wall Street noted a slight gap between reported users and projected figures. The stock was up 3%.

US-China Tech Tensions and AI

The conversation shifted to the growing US-China tech rivalry, with reports indicating Beijing's increasing concern over America's frontier AI models. This development comes ahead of a planned September meeting between President Trump and China's Xi Jinping. Mike Shepard, Bloomberg senior tech editor, explained that Chinese officials are echoing past US concerns about data collection and national security risks associated with foreign tech products. The primary concern from Beijing is that advanced US AI models could be used as offensive weapons against their economy.

Future of AI and Compute

In other developments, prediction market platform PolyMarket is reportedly seeking capital with a valuation topping $20 billion, aiming to raise $1 billion. This follows Anthropic's $10 billion deal for computing capacity with cloud startup Volta Infra Holdings. Meanwhile, the FCC is drafting a ban on imports of certain Chinese data center components to protect US industry infrastructure, aiming to prevent malware installation or data theft.

Celine Woo, portfolio manager at Lazard Asset Management, discussed the ongoing demand for cloud capacity and compute, noting that demand continues to outstrip supply. She highlighted that hyperscalers like Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), and Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) have demonstrated strong ROI on their AI build-outs, validating continued heavy spending. Woo also noted the shift to inference workloads as a key driver for demand in GPUs and CPUs, benefiting semiconductor companies like Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD).