In BriefPosted:2:12 PM PST December 22, 2024Image Credits:Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg / Getty ImagesPalantir and Anduril reportedly building a tech consortium to bid on defense contractsTwo big defense tech players, Palantir and Anduril, are talking to tech companies including SpaceX, OpenAI, Saronic, and Scale AI about forming a consortium to bid on Pentagon contracts, according to a report in the Financial Times.The goal, the FT says, is to challenge the dominance of prime defense contractors like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing. One unnamed participant described this as an effort to provide a new generation of defense contractors, while another said this will be a more efficient way to sell the government cutting-edge weapons and other tech.Initial partnerships could be announced as soon as January, according to the report.Palantir and Anduril (both named after magical items in J.R.R. Tolkiens Lord of the Rings) hinted that something like this was in the works earlier this month, with an integration announcement between Palantirs AI Platform and Andurils Lattice software. At the time, the companies said they were launching a new consortium to ensure that the U.S. government leads the world in artificial intelligence.Topics