Chasing Palantir: Inside China’s Obsession and the Rise of Its Next-Generation AI-enabled Defense Firms
Chinese companies face institutional barriers as they strive to emulate Palantir’s provision of AI-enabled military-industrial applications to governments
Who is China’s Palantir?
The answer isn’t a single company, but an emerging ecosystem
—- An anonymous Chinese AI industry expert
In early April 2026, five weeks into the US and Israel’s war on Iran, a Washington Post report detailed a burgeoning market of private Chinese firms using artificial intelligence (AI) with open-source data to track U.S. military movements. These firms analyze intelligence on carrier groups and aircraft locations during the conflict. The report specifically highlighted two five-year-old companies : MizarVision (觅熵科技) and Jing’an Technology (靖安科技). Both are based in Hangzhou, a city widely considered the “center of China’s AI universe.” The Natto Team discovered that these companies, and a dozen others, have vied for the honor of being considered “China’s Palantir,” amid market hype over the role of AI in the military-industrial sector.
U.S.-based software company Palantir Technologies builds data integration and analytics platforms used by governments and commercial organizations around the world. Its products have reportedly played significant roles in recent conflicts, including the Israeli Defense Ministry’s use of AI-driven battlefield analytics in Gaza in 2024 and U.S. operations in Iran in 2026, which enabled the targeting of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. In April 2026, Palantir sparked global controversy by publishing a 22-point “manifesto” on X (formerly Twitter) that some commentators viewed as expressing a highly militaristic worldview with dangerous aspirations regarding AI, surveillance, and autonomous weapons.
In a November 2025 interview with The Axios Show, a digital media outlet based in the U.S., when asked “what should we worry about AI?,” Palantir CEO Alex Karp stated that the biggest risk of AI is the possibility of China winning the race for dominance. It appears Mr. Karp’s concerns seem valid; Palantir serves as a beacon for numerous Chinese companies striving for global influence. Many believe that China’s own Palantir(s) are those high growth companies that the Chinese government wants and needs to win global dominance.
In this post, the Natto Team analyzes two studies about Palantir from Chinese perspectives—one written in 2017 by an academic scholar and the other in 2026 by an industry AI expert—to reveal reasons behind China’s obsession with Palantir and barriers to the emergence of Chinese Palantir wannabes. It also sheds light on the evolution of the Chinese military-industrial sector and identifies the companies inspired by Palantir.
Although China’s Palantir-like companies have not fully emerged, they are on the horizon.
(Note: The appendix of this post provides a list of Chinese companies that have been mentioned by various Chinese media or have self-identified as being, or resembling, China’s Palantir. For more information about these companies, please contact nattoteam@nattothoughts.com.)
