I took a day off to buy a Palantir hoodie. I came an hour before opening and stood in line.
At 11:30 a.m. on the 14th, Kim Seung-hyun, 36, whom we met in front of the Palantir Technologies (Palantir) pop-up store in Seongsu-dong, Seoul, said this. Ahead of the noon opening, more than 200 people of all ages were lined up here. Starting today for two days, Palantir is opening the world's first pop-up store in Korea. Hours are noon to 8 p.m. on both days, with a total of six limited-edition goods unveiled on-site. Of these, five are being presented to the public for the first time, and all items are produced in limited quantities and sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
Palantir is a corporations that builds data-driven operating systems that analyze vast amounts of data to derive insights and solve problems. The core technology is the "Ontology" work that integrates fragmented data into concepts anyone can understand. Through this, Palantir has built a business model that helps clients easily understand complex data and make decisions. The U.S. Department of defense, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) use Palantir's services, drawing attention to it as a defense artificial intelligence (AI) corporations. In particular, in the second quarter (April–June) of this year, Palantir's quarterly revenue surpassed $1 billion (about 1.43 trillion won) for the first time, surprising Wall Street.
Upon entering the pop-up store, a gleaming large media wall on the right side of the central hall and the Palantir logo on the glass exterior wall straight ahead caught the eye. The showroom, characterized by blue lighting, displayed a range of Palantir goods, and in the sales area, customers could try on and purchase clothing themselves. The most popular product among customers at the pop-up is Palantir's limited-edition hoodie. The hoodie, in black, which is also Palantir's signature color, is emblazoned with the company's core technology, Ontology. Other items on sale, such as T-shirts, sweatshirts, and caps, feature the Palantir logo, which is distinguished by a circle.
So why is Palantir, which centers on business-to-business (B2B) transactions, selling apparel at a pop-up store often considered the domain of business-to-consumer (B2C) corporations? Eliano A. Unis, head of strategic engagement at Palantir, whom we met at the pop-up store, said, "Because there are many Palantir fans and supporters in Korea, we wanted to do something that could captivate them and enable consolidation with them," explaining the reason.
On why they sell goods, Unis said, "People identify with Palantir's mission and the values it pursues, so they wear items bearing the company logo as a way to share those values," adding, "We consider this a great honor." In fact, Korea has a strong fan base for Palantir. After Palantir relaunched its goods platform in 4th, Korea ranked second worldwide after the United States in the number of purchasing customers.
That is because Palantir is emerging as a major U.S. stock favored by domestic investors. According to the Korea Securities Depository (KSD), as of 10th of the previous month, the custody value of Palantir shares held by domestic stock investors was tallied at $5.85 billion (about 8.15 trillion won). In Korea, it became the foreign stock with the third-largest custody value after Tesla and Nvidia. Most of the customers who came that day were Palantir's domestic shareholders. Shin Ji-hoon, 32, who visited to buy a hoodie and a cap, said, "As a Palantir shareholder, I'm very interested in this corporations, and I saw on Instagram that it was opening a pop-up store in Korea, so I thought it was a rare opportunity and decided to come."
This pop-up store is also seen as a sign of Palantir's commitment to expanding its push into the Korean market. Palantir co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alex Karp visited the pop-up store the previous day and on this day discussed ways to spread the AI platform with Kim Young-shub, president of KT. In Korea, Palantir currently has a partnership with KT to accelerate the AX (AI transformation) business, and with HD Hyundai it is co-developing a next-generation shipyard project and the AI-based unmanned surface vessel (USV) "Tenebris."