(August 12, 2025) Six hundred percent. That’s how much Palantir’s stock has risen in just a year — a meteoric climb that has turned the once-secretive data company into Silicon Valley’s hottest talking point. In the past quarter alone, it crossed $1 billion in revenue for the first time, nearly doubled its US commercial business to $628 million, and secured a $10 billion, 10-year contract with the US Army. Headlines call it a Wall Street darling. Investors call it the future of AI. But behind the swirl of billion-dollar valuations and military contracts is a quieter story — one that begins in Mumbai, runs through a small family shop in Florida, and today finds its way to the center of America’s AI revolution.
That story belongs to billionaire Shyam Sankar, a Mumbai-born immigrant whose life carries the promise — and grit — of the American dream. Today, as Palantir’s Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President, a role he took on in 2023, he helps steer one of the fastest-rising tech companies in the world. His journey began far from Silicon Valley, in the small souvenir shop his parents ran in Orlando. From stacking shelves and chatting with customers to building powerful software used by governments, armies, and industries, his life has been shaped by a drive to solve tough problems and the courage to take chances when it mattered most.
Shyam Sankar, CTO, Palantir
Palantir, the company Shyam now helps lead, was founded in 2003 with a bold aim: to make sense of the world’s most complex data. Its first mission was national security, creating tools that could detect threats hidden in oceans of information. Over time, the technology — shaped in part by Shyam’s on-the-ground work with soldiers, analysts, and industry leaders — has expanded into hospitals, factories, disaster relief efforts, and more. Today, Palantir stands at the crossroads of AI, security, and industry, reshaping how decisions are made on battlefields and in boardrooms alike.
From Mumbai to Orlando: An Immigrant’s American Dream
Shyam Sankar’s story is rooted in the immigrant dream. He was born in Mumbai and spent his early childhood there before his family moved to the United States. His father came from humble beginnings — born in a mud hut in rural Tamil Nadu and the first in his family to attend college. After starting his career in India and spending some time working in Nigeria, his father moved the family to Florida in search of a better future.
In Orlando, they ran a small souvenir shop and later a dry-cleaning business to make ends meet. It wasn’t easy — the dry-cleaning shop eventually went bankrupt, and the family faced its share of struggles. But through it all, Shyam learned resilience and optimism from his parents.
“My parents’ journey showed me that America is not a place where everything is perfect, but is a place where anything is possible.” — Shyam Sankar
That belief — that with hard work and ingenuity, one can achieve great things — has guided him ever since.
In school, Shyam Sankar was the kind of student who didn’t just aim to do well — he pushed himself to make his parents proud. Studying hard was his way of honouring the sacrifices they had made to build a life in America. After high school in Florida, he went on to Cornell University, earning a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, and later completed a master’s in Management Science and Engineering at Stanford.
By his early 20s, Shyam had what many would consider a dream start — an Ivy League education, a Stanford degree, and a job offer from a top consulting firm. It was the safe choice, the kind of role that promised stability and prestige. But when he talked it over with his father, the advice was simple: if you want to truly create something, join a startup. So he turned down the sure thing, took his father’s advice, and stepped into the unpredictable world of a young tech company — a choice that would shape everything that came next.
He joined Xoom Corporation, an online payments startup backed by members of the PayPal mafia. At Xoom (where he was reportedly the 5th hire), he cut his teeth in Silicon Valley’s startup culture while still finishing his master’s degree. This experience proved invaluable – it taught him how small teams could build big things, and it introduced him to influential figures in tech. In fact, it was a Stanford classmate who would draw Sankar to his defining opportunity: Palantir. Sankar’s freshman-year roommate at Stanford was among Palantir’s founding team, and he kept telling Sankar about an exciting but secretive software company that was still in stealth mode. By 2006, Shyam decided to take another leap. He left Xoom and joined Palantir as employee number 13, stepping into the high-stakes world of data analytics and national security.
Building Palantir: From Forward Deployed Engineer to CTO
Joining Palantir in its early days was like stepping into a high-tech spy thriller. Founded by Peter Thiel, Alex Karp, Stephen Cohen, and Joe Lonsdale, the company was building software to help U.S. intelligence agencies connect the dots and prevent terrorism — advanced data-mining and analysis tools inspired in part by methods used to track illicit finance networks. For the young Shyam Sankar, the vision was irresistible. “The thing that’s been hugely consistent over time is the ambition of what we’re trying to accomplish,” he said of Palantir’s founding mission. In a post-9/11 world, the founders were asking a bold question: “Why are we arguing about what’s more important, privacy or security? They’re both obviously important. How do we build technologies that allow you to have more of both?” It wasn’t an easy problem — in fact, it was a deep technical and societal challenge — and that question, Sankar recalled, “got me deeply wedded” to Palantir’s cause.
At Palantir, Shyam Sankar quickly stood out for pushing an unconventional way of deploying software. Instead of building tools in isolation and handing them over, he believed engineers should work side-by-side with the people using them — often out in the field — to truly understand their needs. He pioneered a new role at the company, becoming Palantir’s first “Forward Deployed Engineer.” This meant spending long stretches away from headquarters and embedding with clients on the front lines. During the war on terror, he sat in tents with U.S. soldiers, adapting Palantir’s software on the spot to meet battlefield demands. The approach made sure Palantir’s products solved real problems in real time, and it has since become part of the company’s DNA.
As Sankar put it, “The good ideas don’t come when eating strawberries in Palo Alto. They come on the fire cells of Djibouti and the factory floors of Detroit where you can see first-hand what’s happening – and that’s all the inspiration, all the creativity … it comes from that environment.” For him, the best innovation comes from gritty, on-the-ground problem solving, not from the comfort of an office.
Sankar’s hands-on approach set Palantir apart from other software companies. By working directly with users — from intelligence analysts in Washington to factory managers in Michigan — Palantir’s engineers could quickly tailor solutions and improve them based on real feedback. This agility was vital in the company’s early contracts and pilots, and it helped build Palantir’s reputation as a company unafraid to “get its hands dirty” to solve tough problems. Over time, many other tech firms copied the forward-deployment model, but Palantir was among the first to do it. Sankar’s role in shaping this approach earned him respect inside the company and led to bigger responsibilities. He moved from engineering into management, eventually overseeing Palantir’s deployments worldwide and leading operations as an Executive Vice President. In January 2023, he became Palantir’s Chief Technology Officer, completing a nearly 20-year journey from fresh graduate to top executive.
Leading Palantir’s Next Chapter in AI
Today, Shyam Sankar leads Palantir’s push into artificial intelligence and new markets. The company’s recent billion-dollar quarter and soaring stock price come amid a global rush to adopt AI, and Sankar has become one of its most visible voices. In 2024, he wrote a widely read manifesto on U.S. defense innovation, calling for a shake-up of the military contracting system to make way for faster, more agile tech companies. The ideas gained such traction that he was invited to join the U.S. Army Reserve’s Executive Innovation Corps, a group of private-sector experts advising on how to make the military “leaner, smarter, and more lethal.”
Even with his billionaire status and senior titles, colleagues say Shyam Sankar is still the same builder and problem-solver he’s always been. He stays closely involved in Palantir’s projects and often talks about valuing mission-driven work over prestige. On a recent earnings call, as the company celebrated its soaring valuation, he credited its success to a team motivated by impact, not accolades. “We are able to attract and retain people who actually want to bend the arc of history here, work on the problems that drive outcomes,” he said.
Sankar’s story is also part of a bigger picture — one where the Indian diaspora is taking on some of the most influential roles in Silicon Valley, shaping how the U.S. and, in many ways, the world thinks and functions. From leading cutting-edge AI platforms to reimagining national security, figures like Sankar are showing how talent and perspective from India’s global community can drive innovation at the highest levels. That spirit — encouraged by leaders like him — is a big part of what makes Palantir different.
As of 2025, Palantir is at the top of its game — mentioned alongside the biggest names in AI, with growth that shows no sign of slowing. In just over two decades, it has transformed from a niche defense contractor into a $400+ billion AI powerhouse. That rise is closely tied to Shyam Sankar’s own journey. Born in Mumbai and raised in Orlando, he’s the immigrant who embraced America’s possibilities, the engineer who left the comfort of an office for a military tent in Djibouti, and the strategist who believes technology can help create a safer future. In many ways, his path mirrors Palantir’s — ambitious, adaptable, and driven by purpose. As the company shapes the future of AI and big data, Sankar, the Indian-American tech leader at its helm, is set to remain a defining voice in where that future goes.
- Follow Shyam Sankar on LinkedIn
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