Shyam Sankar

CTO @Palantirtech

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

1/ We are in an undeclared state of emergency.

America's adversaries are circling, and the American industrial base that dominated the 20th century is dormant.

For the CCP, it is not enough for China to prosper...
America must fall.

It's time to Mobilize. Coming March 2026.

[Jack Prescott @JackPrescottX]

Finally finished Shyam Sankar’s new book, ‘Mobilize’. It was honestly one of the most important books I’ve ever read.

- Our defense procurement system is broken. Cost-plus contracting, bureaucracy, and regulation destroys innovation. We can’t afford to coddle the defense primes. We must embrace meritocracy. Competition breeds innovation.

- The offshoring of our manufacturing has created an enormous national security threat. Not to mention, the American industrial base was once filled with dual-use companies. Sherwin Williams and Quaker Oats operated bomb-loading plants during World War ll. This capacity
does not exist anymore.

- A stockpile is not a deterrent. Production capacity is.

- Our government must embrace commercial companies in defense contracting. The procurement process must be fair and open to all. May the best product win.

- It will take heretics to turn the ship around. The Drew Cukors of the world. Leaders who are willing to disrupt and challenge the status quo.

- America is unique in its ability to embrace the founder, pivot quickly, and Mobilize. To stop WW3, we must be able to intimidate the CCP enough to delay their plan to invade Taiwan. They plan to be “ready” by 2027. But they’ll delay it to 2028. Then 2029, 2030, and so on. It’s not too late.

These are just some of my takeaways.

I knew our system was broken, but this book opened my eyes up to just how broken it truly is. I have also gained a new level of respect for Shyam; not just as an executive at Palantir, but also as a leader trying to move our country forward.

We will look back on Mobilize as an irreplaceable book and roadmap that started the conversation and moved the needle in one of the most critical periods in American history.

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

Researchers at leading labs have started smoking.
Their logic: AGI will cure cancer before it kills them.

Are you lighting a cigarette because you're that confident the models will cure cancer in time?

No? not AGI-pilled...

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

Researchers at leading labs have started smoking.
Their logic: AGI will cure cancer before it kills them.

Are you lighting a cigarette because you're that confident the models will cure cancer in time?

No? not AGI-pilled...

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

Jevons paradox playing out in real time.

Cheaper technology is creating more demand and more jobs.

https://t.co/aTSZe409yr

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

Token Minn-ing, Value Maxxing

[Palantir @PalantirTech]

AIP Evolve — our new product for making agents more efficient and cost effective.

See how Chad and Colton used it to autonomously swap models, tune prompts, validate outputs, and find structured ontology data that eliminated 2 LLM calls; cutting compute costs while improving accuracy and reliability in production.

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

token minn-ing FTW... winning matters.

[Business Insider @BusinessInsider]

Uber COO Andrew Macdonald said he's not seeing proportional productivity gains from increasing AI costs. https://t.co/1VDp9cAqTw

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

They sacrificed everything. A grateful nation is stepping up for their kids. 🇺🇸🫡

[Brad Gerstner @altcap]

For 250 years America’s military families have sacrificed to defend America - asking for little in return. Today we are raising $$ for the kids of military families to add to their Invest America | @TrumpAccounts. Over $10 M already donated. 🇺🇸🚀🤍[email protected].

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

M-Day was Yesterday 🫡🪖🇺🇸

[Jai Malik @jaimalik]

I'm excited to announce that @AmcaInc has raised a $300M Series B at a >$1B valuation, led by @CaffeinatedCap with major support from @LightspeedVP, @a16z, @Lux_Capital, and others.

We're on a mission to reconstitute a supply chain that has too often put profit over country.

[Jawwwn @jawwwn_]

Palantir CTO @ssankar on AI layoffs:

“We’re listening too much to the inventors of AI.”

“I know that’s appealing. They’re geniuses.”

“We need to be listening to the frontline factory workers using AI saying, ‘Wow, I was able to add a third shift. I was able to hire more workers.’”

“Or the ICU nurse who says, ‘I was able to spend more time with my patients and ensure they don’t code during a shift change now.’”

Via @FoxNews

[Jason Kelly @jrkelly]

Great article in @statnews by @damiangarde today covering schism in the biotech industry over the rise of Chinese biotech industry - notably no one will go on record but me😛

The US can easily stop the Chinese biotech industry whenever it chooses as the US consumer is responsible for 70% (!!!) of the drug industry profits. Thus the US gets to set the rules.

It is a mistake to outsource this industry -- very simply: the technology of genetic engineering is a matter of national security and democracies should lead it. We would not feel good if the US wasn't leading AI today and trust me we will feel even worse if we are behind in genetic engineering in the future as the tech improves.

If you talk to people privately in biotech they will say it's a Prisoner's dilemma where they wish the rules would change. If the rules stay as they are then to stay competitive venture capitalists need to move their $ to China and pharma companies need to buy their drug assets from Chinese startups instead of from startups in Kendall Square or South San Francisco (the current US hubs for drug discovery).

To fix this we should take two approaches:

(1) Offensive - make US biotech industry more competitive!
* Reform phase 1 clinical trails in US to be as fast as China and Australia -- this is in progress now at @US_FDA . @DrSynbio congressional testimony on this was very helpful. (link below).
* Replace manual laboratories with autonomous robotic laboratories via programs like NSF Cloud Labs program and @SenToddYoung 's Cloud Lab Bill so US scientists can compete with lower-cost scientific labor in China. Yes, @ginkgo is the leader in making this tech. Efforts from @WHOSTP44. @dariogila, @mkratsios47, @sriramk with the WH Genesis Mission are a big help here.
* Fix our approach to biotech patents -- it is very easy for Chinese startups to fast-follow US companies that have scientific breakthroughs by easily working around patents, @john_evans3 has led in thinking here.

(2) Defensive - slow the rise of the biotechnology industry in China
* USG should add biotechnology to the COINS Act list of strategic technologies alongside AI, Quantum, Semiconductors, and Drones to prevent US investment from speeding Chinese development.
* Other tools can be used in the future to easily penalize drug assets that originate from startups in China -- can do via regulatory pathway or via Medicare reimbursement.

Genetic engineering is the most important technology to the future of humanity. Democracies should not give up on it! Let's fight for it!

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

The SPUDnik moment. After Mythos the physics of cyber defense has changed.

[Palantir @PalantirTech]

Introducing MA-S2: Mission Assurance Security Standard for Software.

AI is accelerating vulnerability discovery. Adversaries are moving faster than any human team can respond.

Institutions need autonomous remediation, attack path modeling, and domain awareness.

The bar has changed.

MA-S2 is our proposed standard for software security — one we're actively working towards, and publishing as our responsibility to every enterprise that wishes to secure its own digital footprint and ecosystem.

Learn more: https://t.co/rpABCr5vVi

[American Optimist @AmOptimistShow]

EPISODE 153: Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar on Heretics, AI Weapons & Rebuilding the Arsenal of Democracy

@JTLonsdale sits down with @ssankar to discuss PLTR lore, protecting heretics, and his new book "Mobilize"

(00:00) Episode intro

(01:45) Mud hut in India to life in America

(05:25) Employee #13 at Palantir 

(09:45) How Shyam created Forward Deployed Engineers 

(13:05) What are Shyam-isms? 

(14:55) Business discipline & learning to say no 

(19:20) The crisis of the American industrial base

(24:00) Some heretics must be protected 

(29:00) The factory is the weapon

(34:00) Magical AI weapons 

(43:00) Optimism for America's future

[Jawwwn @jawwwn_]

Palantir CTO @ssankar on why we should raise the defense budget:

“In WWII, we had 154 different airframes built.”

“Only 10 mattered—but if you don’t build 154, you don’t get the 10 that you actually need.”

Via @CNBC

[First Breakfast @FirstBreakfast]

The key lesson of modern war from the Second World War to Epic Fury?

Industrial power is combat power.

America can close kill chains at devastating speed—but this advantage is squandered without the metal and munitions to back it up.

The Department of War needs to leverage American tech to connect itself, primes, and sub-tier suppliers into a single system—so it can see, coordinate, and drive production in real time.

It needs to build the WAR MACHINE.

@ssankar @BigShow2026 @Madeline_Zimm @BlakeSeitz

https://t.co/otw0j17cnk

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

Veterans: the mission still needs you!

Applications for the second cohort of the American Tech Fellowship for Veterans (ATF-V) are live now.

⏩ ~50 slots for highly motivated builders from military backgrounds—Active Duty, Veterans, Reservists, and National Guard are all eligible.

⏩ 12 weeks of live, virtual training sessions where you will learn to wield AI using @PalantirTech’s industry-leading Artificial Intelligence Platform. By the time you graduate, you will build a standalone capstone project and gain the skills to use cutting-edge enterprise software where it counts.

⏩ One network: join the ranks of ATF graduates—a mark of quality and a network that will only deepen with time.

⏩ Boundless opportunities: truly exceptional talent will be invited to interview for jobs at Palantir and partner companies. Dozens of ATF graduates have landed jobs directly through ATF.

You answered you country’s call. This your invitation to a new, noble quest. Will you answer?

Applications are live through June 1. The fellowship begins July 7. Apply today and spread the word to veterans you know:

https://t.co/LndmOgIXAc

[The New Criterion @newcriterion]

“In his envisioned mobilization effort, Sankar stresses the importance of driven individuals in business and in the armed services to overcome the system’s inertia.”

Read “Activating defense,” by Henrik Bering. @BombardierBooks @ssankar

https://t.co/4FWKLDqrkt

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

M-day was Yesterday!

[Palantir @PalantirTech]

America's adversaries are on the march.

In the NYT bestselling book Mobilize, Palantir CTO @ssankar and Deployment Strategist Madeline Hart issue an urgent call: America must mobilize immediately to deter WWIII.

Read on to understand why the WSJ calls Sankar "a Silicon Valley Paul Revere."

https://t.co/i1VbqU2qup

[Director Michael Kratsios @mkratsios47]

The U.S. has evidence that foreign entities, primarily in China, are running industrial-scale distillation campaigns to steal American AI. We will be taking action to protect American innovation.

These foreign entities are using tens of thousands of proxies and jailbreaking techniques in coordinated campaigns to systematically extract American breakthroughs. Foreign entities who build on such fragile foundations should have little confidence in the integrity and reliability of the models they produce.

The U.S. government is committed to the free and fair development of AI technologies across a competitive ecosystem, from open-source to proprietary models.

Read the memo: https://t.co/w0BWxJdaLn

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

Every era has its orthodoxy. And every orthodoxy is eventually broken by one person who refuses to stay quiet. This is that person.

[Tom Bartlett @tom_nhs]

Most people have only seen FDP's first few products. Almost nobody outside the programme knows what it can actually do. I've written about five capabilities that could change how every Trust operates. Link in reply.

[Shyam Sankar @ssankar]

22 years building data systems in the NHS. Led 150 engineers on FDP. No commercial relationship with Palantir. No one asked him to speak.
He spoke anyway — because the people who actually built the thing were watching it get killed by a debate led by people who never logged in.

History remembers the person who stands up when everyone with knowledge is sitting down.

[Tom Bartlett @tom_nhs]

I led the team that built the NHS Federated Data Platform. I've left NHS England and written down what I think the debate is getting wrong.
https://t.co/OEtSI4AoOD