France drops Palantir for domestic AI over ‘dependency’

TL;DR:

  • France’s DGSI intelligence agency will replace Palantir’s AI data tools with French firm ChapsVision to avoid “strategic dependency”.
  • Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said France “cannot rely on tools developed by foreign powers” and pledged €655m (£566m) for AI.
  • The move sharpens a sovereignty debate the UK is living through with its own £330m NHS Palantir contract under review.

France’s domestic intelligence service is to drop AI data tools from US firm Palantir in favour of a domestic supplier, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has said, framing the decision as a stand against “new strategic dependencies in the digital sphere”. The DGSI will switch to French firm ChapsVision, though because Palantir’s long-term contract was renewed in 2025 the transition is expected to take several years.

A European sovereignty signal

Lecornu’s intervention lands amid mounting unease over reliance on US technology, days after Washington restricted foreign access to Anthropic’s most advanced model. France must “build real autonomy” and not depend on partners “capable of turning off the access tap”, he said, announcing €655 million (£566 million) for AI infrastructure and a shared chatbot for state services built on French startup Mistral’s models. ChapsVision — which made €200m (£173m) in revenue in 2025 against Palantir’s $4.5bn (£3.3bn) — has reportedly also been picked by Germany’s BfV security service.

The UK parallel is direct. Britain is already reviewing the NHS’s £330m Palantir data contract after political pressure, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan blocked a proposed £50m Palantir deal with the Metropolitan Police — prompting the company to threaten legal action. Germany’s military has likewise said it will stop using Palantir products.

Looking forward

For UK readers, France offers a working template and a cautionary note. The template: deliberately backing a domestic champion (Mistral, ChapsVision) and accepting a multi-year, costly migration as the price of autonomy. The caution: sovereignty is slow and expensive, and “several years” to unwind one contract shows how deeply foreign tools embed once adopted. With Britain’s Palantir footprint in the NHS and policing still unresolved, the question is whether the UK has a credible domestic alternative to back — or only the rhetoric of independence.

Share this article