Palantir Shares Rise Army Maven Contract Modification

(Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Palantir jumps on big expansion to federal defense contract

5/22/25 1:05PM

Shares of Palantir — a retail trader fave and top Trump stock — popped on Thursday after the US Department of Defense said it was adding nearly $800 million onto an existing $480 million contract with the company to provide the software for the Maven Smart System, an AI-driven targeting system that combines weaponry, drone, satellite, and intelligence data into the so-called “kill chain” used to make firing decisions.

The “contract modification” for $795 million is technically for additional software licenses and pushes the ceiling on the program up to nearly $1.3 billion for work that the Army expects to be completed over the next four years.

Analyst Louie DiPalma of William Blair thinks spending on the program could translate into roughly $200 million in revenue for 2025 and increase by $50 million per year for the next several years. That could help support the fast top-line growth that has made the shares a favorite of traders.

While Palantir has been building out its AI software business with corporate clients, the US government remains its single largest customer, making the defense budget a crucial focus for the company.

Rumors that President Trump’s defense department would cut expenditures by 8% cratered the stock back in February.

But such belt-tightening seems to have gone out the window, with the Republican budget bill that just passed through the House of Representatives adding $150 billion in new spending for the Pentagon. Some $25 billion of that spending is earmarked for the president’s “Golden Dome” missile defense project, which Palantir is well positioned to get a piece of as well.

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Google invests $75 million in film studio A24, forms AI partnership

Google is investing roughly $75 million in independent film studio A24 as part of an AI partnership, according the Wall Street Journal. The investment marks Google’s first direct stake in a film studio.

Under the agreement, A24 will work with Google DeepMind to develop and test AI tools for filmmaking and production workflows, the Journal reports.

The deal comes as A24 continues to expand its business beyond indie films into television, music, and live events. Since its 2013 launch, the studio has produced Oscar-winning films such as Everything Everywhere All at Once. Its revenue has more than doubled over the past two years, according to the Journal, and the company was last valued at $3.5 billion in a Thrive Capital-led funding round in 2024.

Google’s investment comes as major technology companies increasingly deepen ties with media companies as generative AI tools become more integrated into creative industries. For Google, the partnership also expands DeepMind’s reach into entertainment and film production.

The firm and TV industry is pushing to develop AI tools that can be integrated into the time-consuming and expensive production process. In a sign of the potential value of such tools, in March, Netflix announced it would acquire Ben Affleck's startup InterPositive, which is building AI film-making tools, for $600 million.

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Getty Images surges following OpenAI partnership

Getty Images is surging in early trading after the company announced a multi-year licensing and product partnership with OpenAI.

Under the agreement, OpenAI will license Getty’s library of images, videos, and metadata for use in training and improving its AI models, while Getty will integrate OpenAI’s generative AI tools into its own products and services.

The deal comes as Getty faces growing pressure from generative AI tools that can create stock image-like images in seconds, threatening parts of its traditional licensing business. Getty posted revenue of $226.6 million in Q1, down 2.5% year over year on a currency-neutral basis.

Getty was one of the earliest major content companies to challenge AI firms in court, suing Stability AI in 2023 for allegedly scraping millions of copyrighted images without permission to train image-generation models.

The OpenAI deal follows Getty’s 2025 licensing agreement with Perplexity, which gave the AI search company access to Getty’s library and required image credits with links to original sources.

Before the announcement, Getty shares had been trading below $1 for months. The stock surged by 124% in early trading, erasing its year-to-date losses as investors are waiting to see if Getty can turn its licensed content library into a more valuable AI asset.