Palantir Technologies moving headquarters from Denver to Miami

Controversial data-analysis firm Palantir Technologies, the state’s largest public company with a market value of $312.2 billion, announced on social media Tuesday that it has relocated from Denver to Miami.

“We have moved our headquarters to Miami, Florida” is all the straightforward post on X said.

No details were provided on how many Denver employees might be relocated to Florida or what functions will remain in Denver, if any.

The company has faced multiple protests during its time in Denver, initially for its support of the Israeli military and more recently for working with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement to use artificial intelligence to identify targets for deportation.

Members of the Denver City Council have publicly chastised Palantir for its work with ICE, and advocacy groups have tried to push the council to divest from any services or contracts with the company.

Palantir faced a large protest Jan. 31 at its new Cherry Creek office and another one this weekend, with protestors chanting “Palantir out of Denver” and “No AI for ICE.”

“When a company profits from contracts connected to raids and detention, working people have a responsibility to stand up for the families they care for, clean for, and work beside every day. From Denver to Miami, communities will keep raising their voices until corporations respect civil rights and stop harming our neighbors,” said Stephanie Felix-Sowy, president of SEIU Local 105, which represents service workers in the state.

She added that the company can change its address, but it can’t escape accountability. Colorado service workers have one unified response, she said: “Good riddance.”

Palantir is Colorado’s highest-valued company — and at center of controversy — five years after move to Denver

Gov. Jared Polis said Tuesday that he was not notified about Palantir’s move in advance of the company’s public announcement, and that he has requested to meet with Palantir’s executives to learn more about the impact on the company’s Colorado employees.

“I don’t know what the announcement means,” Polis said during a news conference to announce a new Colorado Supreme Court justice. “Obviously, what I will be looking to is whether it will affect any jobs in Colorado. It’s not clear whether a headquarters move would affect that.”

Likewise, Jon Ewing, a spokesman for Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, said the city wasn’t made aware that the company might move.

“We did not receive advance notice of Palantir’s decision to leave Denver. Denver remains a national hub for the tech sector and that won’t change with Palantir’s departure,” he said in an email.

Palantir relocated from Palo Alto, Calif., to Denver in 2020, with executive, engineering and operational jobs moving. It initially set up shop in the SugarCube Building before moving to the Tabor Center at 1200 17th St.

In September, the company signed a lease to take 11,400 square feet at the Financial House at 205 Detroit St. in Cherry Creek.

When CEO Alex Karp announced the move to Denver in a 2020 letter, he said the company was leaving Silicon Valley due to cultural and ideological differences. He cited a more pragmatic environment in Denver at the time.

Karp also seemed to be strengthening his ties to the state in December when he paid $120 million to buy the former St. Benedict Monastery in Old Snowmass.

The company has more than 4,000 employees, according to its most recent 10-K filing, and it hasn’t provided a precise breakout for its Denver headcount. Its Cherry Creek lease, which could reach 14,000 square feet, would suggest no more than 150 employees. But the company relies heavily on remote workers, and some of those teams likely reported through the Denver headquarters.

Karp has set a goal of growing the company’s revenues tenfold while cutting the headcount down to 3,600. He plans to do so by leveraging some of the company’s own artificial intelligence tools to boost productivity per employee.

The state legislature has passed the Colorado Artificial Intelligence Act, set to take effect this June, which is designed to regulate “high-risk” AI systems to prevent systemic discrimination. While not specifically targeted at Palantir, it would have created a stricter compliance regime for the data mining and predictive tools the company develops.

“Even though they only called Colorado home for a brief period of time, we’re sorry our largest company by market cap is choosing another location for their HQ. This move, and others, as well as our continued decline in economic competitiveness rankings, should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers that if we want a strong, robust economy, we need to lower costs, stabilize our politics, and make it easier to businesses of all shapes and sizes to be successful here,” said J.J. Ament, president and CEO of the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.

More practical considerations might have also played a role in the decision to relocate. Florida, like Texas, lacks a state income tax, and both states have done well in attracting companies and high-net-worth individuals. By relocating the headquarters to Miami, Palantir employees could avoid Colorado’s 4.4% state income tax.

Miami has made a concerted push to attract more technology firms, and one of Palantir’s co-founders, tech entrepreneur Peter Thiel, opened a new Miami office for Thiel Capital, his investment firm, in December.

“This is the tipping point!!!! What a watershed moment for Miami,” former Miami Mayor Francis Suarez in a post on X, of the city landing a top 10 AI firm.

Although Colorado is a leader in quantum computing, it has lagged when it comes to artificial intelligence. The arrival of Palantir provided a big boost in that regard, drawing in other companies and talent. It is unclear what Palantir’s departure will mean for the state’s future in the hottest area of the tech sector, one that is drawing a majority of venture capital investment.

“I’m not aware of the specific factors that led to this decision. What we do know is that Colorado’s technology economy remains exceptionally strong. According to our latest Colorado Tech Industry Report, tech accounts for 10% of statewide employment and 20% of Colorado’s GDP, and the sector has added more than 47,000 net new jobs over the past five years,” Brittany Morris Saunders, president and CEO of the Colorado Technology Association, said in an email.