Palantir Technologies NASDAQ: PLTR reported first-quarter 2026 results that executives said reflected accelerating demand for the company’s Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP), highlighting record growth rates, expanding profitability metrics, and raised full-year guidance.
Q1 growth accelerates as U.S. business surpasses 100% growth
Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Legal Officer Ryan Taylor described the quarter as “some of the most exciting in the history of Palantir,” citing “85% year-over-year revenue growth” and “16% sequential growth.” Taylor said the company’s U.S. business, which he noted is “now 79% of total revenue,” grew 104% year-over-year and 19% sequentially.
Chief Financial Officer David Glazer said Palantir delivered its “highest ever reported year-over-year growth rate of 85%” and its “strongest ever Q1 sequential growth rate of 16%,” adding that revenue growth has “accelerated for the 11th consecutive quarter.” Total Q1 revenue was $1.633 billion, including $1.282 billion in U.S. revenue, according to Glazer.
Glazer also reported customer count increased to 1,007, up 31% year-over-year and 6% sequentially. He said trailing 12-month revenue per top-20 customer rose 55% year-over-year to $108 million per customer.
Commercial and government segments both expand, with bookings and retention highlighted
Glazer said commercial revenue rose 95% year-over-year and 14% sequentially to $774 million. U.S. commercial revenue increased 133% year-over-year and 18% sequentially to $595 million. He also highlighted $1.3 billion in commercial total contract value (TCV) bookings in the quarter, up 42% year-over-year, including $1.2 billion in U.S. commercial TCV bookings, up 45% year-over-year.
Glazer noted that reported U.S. commercial growth “even understates our U.S. commercial momentum,” citing a “successful U.S. commercial customer program transition to a U.S. government customer.” Absent that transition, he said U.S. commercial growth would have been 143% year-over-year and 22% sequentially.
Government revenue grew 76% year-over-year and 18% sequentially to $858 million, Glazer said, with U.S. government revenue up 84% year-over-year and 21% sequentially to $687 million. International government revenue rose 51% year-over-year and 7% sequentially to $172 million.
On overall bookings and retention, Glazer said Palantir closed $2.4 billion of TCV bookings, up 61% year-over-year, and that on a dollar-weighted duration basis, TCV bookings grew 135% year-over-year. Net dollar retention was 150%, an increase of 1,100 basis points from the prior quarter, which he attributed to expansions at existing customers and contributions from customers acquired in the prior year.
Total remaining deal value ended the quarter at $11.8 billion, up 98% year-over-year and 6% sequentially, and remaining performance obligations (RPO) totaled $4.5 billion, up 134% year-over-year and 9% sequentially, Glazer said.
AIP positioning: “no-slop zone,” ontology, and agent governance
Executives repeatedly emphasized AIP as the company’s differentiator for deploying AI in production settings. Taylor said AIP is “the only platform that establishes a true AI no-slop zone,” which he characterized as necessary to convert AI into “compounding real-world value without risking enterprise disaster.”
As an example, Taylor referenced comments from AIG’s CEO about deploying AIP for “a multi-agentic underwriting and claims solution” coordinated through Palantir’s ontology. He also cited a statement from the chairman of Moder regarding work with Freedom Mortgage, calling the relationship a “strategic partnership” aimed at reshaping the mortgage industry and improving affordability and access to homeownership.
Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar framed market dynamics around falling inference costs and rising usage, saying GPT-4-equivalent performance that cost $20 per million tokens in early 2023 is now “approximately 1,000 times cheaper” three years later. He said this dynamic is driving “exploding” demand for tokens and more complex agent workflows, calling it “Jevons paradox” and adding, “Tokens are the new coal. AIP is the train.”
Sankar also argued that as organizations consume more “commodity cognition,” risks increase without “the right harness,” and he positioned Palantir’s ontology as the intermediary representation that enables governance and precision. He said Palantir is building a “platform-native agent engine SDK,” describing it as “a true agent operating system” with features including cost attribution, provenance, and security controls designed to satisfy “a CISO, a CFO, and a combat commander.”
Government programs, defense demand, and manufacturing metrics
On U.S. government activity, Taylor highlighted Maven Smart System and quoted the Department of War’s Chief Digital and AI Officer: “I care about one thing and one thing only… I want him to win and come home. That’s why we do it.” Taylor said Palantir is “very helpful in delivering this.”
Taylor also described results from ShipOS work with the Department of the Navy, citing reductions in manufacturing bill-of-materials approval time from “200 hours to 15 seconds,” contract review cycle speed improvements of “57%-73%,” and a “94%” reduction in monthly material planning time.
Additionally, Taylor said the USDA awarded Palantir “a contract of up to $300 million” to support farmers, secure farmland, enhance supply chain resilience, and protect agricultural programs from fraud and foreign influence.
In Q&A, Sankar said defense activity has been “a very active period,” referencing Maven and TITAN as well as work “on production across major weapon systems.” He said the Department is “pulling as much of that into 2026 as possible,” while acknowledging that continuing resolutions are common and “outside of our control.”
Profitability, cash flow, and raised 2026 guidance
Glazer reported adjusted gross margin of 88% and adjusted operating income of $984 million, representing a 60% adjusted operating margin. GAAP net income was $871 million, a 53% margin, with GAAP EPS of $0.34 and adjusted EPS of $0.33. Stock-based compensation was $202 million in the quarter, and equity-related employer payroll tax expense was $28 million, he said.
Operating cash flow was $899 million and adjusted free cash flow was $925 million, representing margins of 55% and 57%, respectively, according to Glazer. Palantir ended the quarter with $8 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term U.S. Treasury securities.
For guidance, Glazer said Palantir expects Q2 2026 revenue of $1.797 billion to $1.801 billion and adjusted income from operations of $1.063 billion to $1.067 billion. For full-year 2026, Palantir raised revenue guidance to $7.650 billion to $7.662 billion, with the midpoint at $7.656 billion, which Glazer said implies 71% year-over-year growth and represents the company’s “largest ever full year revenue guidance raise.”
Glazer also raised U.S. commercial revenue guidance to “in excess of $3.224 billion,” representing growth of at least 120%, and lifted adjusted income from operations guidance to $4.440 billion to $4.452 billion. Adjusted free cash flow guidance was raised to $4.2 billion to $4.4 billion. He said the company continues to expect GAAP operating income and net income in each quarter of 2026.
Chief Executive Officer Alex Karp argued that the quarter’s results demonstrate demand for operational outcomes rather than “the appearance of software working.” He also said Palantir faces demand constraints, stating, “our biggest problem currently is demand in the U.S… that we just cannot meet demand,” while reiterating the company’s priority on national security work when tradeoffs arise.
About Palantir Technologies NASDAQ: PLTR
Palantir Technologies is a software company that develops data integration, analytics and operational decision-making platforms for government and commercial customers. Founded in 2003 by a team that included Alex Karp and Peter Thiel, Palantir has grown into a provider of enterprise-scale software designed to help organizations integrate disparate data sources, build analytic models and drive operational workflows. The company went public in 2020 and continues to position its products around large, complex data projects where security, provenance and real-time collaboration are important.
Palantir's product portfolio centers on a small number of core platforms.
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