00:00 Speaker A

Let's stick with Palantir because the company announced today that it is partnering with the nuclear company to co-develop an AI-driven software system built exclusively for nuclear construction. Companies saying that the nuclear operating system or NOS will help build plants faster and safer for less. Kentucky-based nuclear company will pay Palantir around 100 million dollars over five years to develop that platform. For more than the new partnership, and where the broader industry does head from here, we're joined now by Palantir's head of defense. That would be Mike Gallagher, and the nuclear company CEO Jonathan Webb. Gentlemen, welcome to you both. Mike, I will start with you. Maybe, Mike, just start here. What led to this new partnership? Walk us through it. How did it come about, Mike?

01:55 Mike Gallagher

Well, uh, first of all, hats off to the nuclear company, which is one of the most innovative partners I've encountered in my time at Palantir. And I think the unifying principle here is a alignment of mission, right? These are two companies that want America to dominate in technology. And there is no winning the AI race if we do not have nuclear technology and ignite a nuclear Renaissance in this country. Which is why Palantir is going to put the entire weight of our organization, our software, which we think is the best in the world, behind the nuclear company. And we think this is an important thing, not only for both companies, but for the country as a whole. This is a national security issue, it's an economic security issue. I think we're on the cusp of something massive in this country building off what the administration is doing with their executive orders, and trying to have more sensible regulatory environment in this space as well.

03:21 Speaker A

When you think about nuclear, Mike, I mean, listen, investors are excited about this space. They're excited about the sector. When you look ahead and you think about what are the demand drivers going to be for the industry? How do you explain it? What do you think's coming?

04:00 Mike Gallagher

Well, I think overall the energy needs of all Americans are, are increasing, as well as the demand for AI data centers, right? Have enormous energy needs, which is why we have like leaders in this space, like Jonathan, and his team at the nuclear company which really want to empower the workers who are building reactors. Right now, it takes over a decade to get reactors built in this country. That's fundamentally unacceptable. That's a, that's a recipe for losing to China, which is investing billions and billions of dollars in this space. Investing enormous human capital in this space. We have to find a way to do things differently. Which is why Jonathan's innovation is absolutely critical for the future of our country.

05:17 Speaker A

And, Mike, I'm just curious before I get to Jonathan. You know, if I was an investor, I'd be interested in hearing, was this pound here? Is this a partnership with the nuclear company, or are you guys also investing in the startup?

05:47 Mike Gallagher

It's a partnership with the nuclear company. Um, really, I think the advantage we have right now is we have a lot of lessons learned in terms of the development of our warp speed product with other partners like Anduril, like Ceronik. Um, some of the lessons learned from international partners like HD Hyundai. Really, how do you turbo charge AI-enabled software for manufacturing? Which before was in the defense base, now we're extending it into the civilian nuclear space. So I think the nuclear company is going to take those lessons learned, build off of those, and in really short order, we're going to be able to change the game.

06:53 Speaker A

Jonathan, want to bring you in here as well. The new software, walk us through what are the sorts of capabilities it unlocks?

07:16 Jonathan Webb

Yeah, so you've heard a lot about this industry in the last few years. And if we're going to be the largest economy in the world, and we don't think we're going to be the largest producer of nuclear power, we're delusional. So right now, we've got China building roughly 10% of the total capacity in the US every year. 10 gigawatts of new nuclear going under construction every year. So this company, what we're focused on, you see a lot of companies in the market designing new reactors. We have great legacy reactors. All those reactors currently operating. We have a lot of companies doing wonderful innovation on new designs of new reactors. There's not one company in the Western world focused on deployment. My client is those frontline workers, those craft workers on the ground, electricians, welders, pipe layers. And if you look at the last two, the last two reactors built in this country, it was Vogtle three and four in Georgia. 10,000 people on that construction site at the peak. Hundreds of thousands of pages of documents. They manage that project with paper, taking wheelbarrels and wagons of paper around. It's unacceptable. 2025, we need to unleash American innovation and get our frontline teams on construction sites, every tool and technology possible. And there's no better partner for the nuclear company than Palantir, and what they have to offer us. And what we're doing is digitizing all of those back-end functions, so that those teams on the ground have the tools and capability to do their job and build on time, on budget. That's the only thing holding back this industry. Your investors on Wall Street would unleash hundreds of billions of dollars to go build out this sector. You don't have AI, you don't have advanced manufacturing without it. Everyone knows that.

10:13 Speaker A

Mike, Jonathan, congrats on the partnership, and thanks for your time today.

10:21 Mike Gallagher

Thank you.