Shyam Sankar, Palantir to Develop Controversial Deportation App
By Tom Kagy | 06 Aug, 2025

Palantir's chief technology officer is getting heat for developing an app designed to help Trump's deportation push.

When Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar was commissioned into the US Army Reserve in June, he helped consolidate relations between Palantir, one of the hottest stocks on NASDAQ, and the US Army.  As a result the Army — which Palantir had successfully sued in 2016 for unfair contracting practices — has signed a new $10 billion contract consolidating Palantir's various software contracts to bring the Army's warfighting operations to the 21st century.

But in April Palantir signed a $30 million contract to build an app to help locate illegal migrants by piecing together personal data from across government agencies.  This has riled some Palantir employees who feel working to help Trump's often inhumane agenda violates Palantir's expressed commitment to protecting civil liberties and privacy. 

Palantir has recently become a highly favored government contractor due in part to the Trump administration's desire to reduce its heavy dependence on Elon Musk's SpaceX.  As a result Palantir stock has surged to become the most expensive on NASDAQ, with a staggering 590 price/earnings ratio.  The growing closeness with the Trump administration has produced some tension with the liberal values with which Palantir co-founder and CEO Alexander Thiel, as well as co-founder and investor Peter Thiel, have always been aligned.  Karp has made no secret of the fact that he voted for Vice President Kamala Harris in the last election.

Palantir owes its rapid surge from struggling 2003 Silicon Valley startup to one of the world's leading AI software companies to its modus operandi of forward-deploying engineers to define an organization's path forward, the brainchild of its CTO and Executive Shyam Sankar, Palantir's employee number 13.  

What makes the controversy over Palantir's deportation app reflect on Sankar is his aggressive visibility.  Seeing himself as an industry thought leader, Sankar is a prolific author as well as a frequent speaker who often leads strategic sessions with elected officials.  He has appeared before the House Select Committee and the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Cybersecurity.  He is a frequent guest on CNBC and his work has been featured in publications like American Affairs, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. 

In 2023 Sankar launched the First Breakfast Initiative where he regularly shares his thought leadership.  He is a frequent guest on podcasts like This Week in Startups and The Arsenal of Democracy.  His aggressive self-promotion won him recognition in 2024 as a Top 7 People in Defense Tech.

Sankar holds a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University and an MA in management science and engineering from Stanford University. Sankar is chairman of  biotech startup Ginkgo Bioworks which seeks to provides a horizontal platform for industries ranging from agriculture to pharmaceuticals and industrial specialty chemicals.