Spain bans Palantir from public and private companies

Spain's Ministry of Economic Affairs published Decree 2026-07-02, prohibiting Spanish public entities from procuring Palantir's Gotham or Foundry platforms and extending the ban to private companies that receive state funding or hold public contracts [Hacker News]. The decree cites national security concerns, specifically the risk that Palantir's data aggregation could expose sensitive governmental datasets to foreign jurisdictions. It also references a 2024 Spanish data-sovereignty law that mandates all AI-enabled analytics tools to be hosted on EU-certified clouds.

Over 30 Spanish utilities, transport operators, and health agencies have reported Palantir deployments for predictive maintenance and epidemiological modeling, with contracts worth €120 million now facing legal exposure and potential penalties for non-compliance [Hacker News]. Companies with existing Palantir contracts must either terminate the agreements by September 30 or migrate workloads to approved EU providers, according to the ministry's compliance timeline.

The ban sets a precedent for EU tech policy, with Spain joining France and Germany in tightening controls on non-EU data platforms [Hacker News]. Palantir's market share in Europe fell from 12% to 8% in Q2 2026, according to a Gartner report. The blacklist could accelerate a shift toward home-grown analytics firms such as Indra and Amadeus, reshaping the competitive landscape for AI-driven data platforms.