Photo: Palantir's pop-up store in Seoul. Credit: The Hankyoreh.
Americans may know Palantir Technologies as a successful artificial intelligence company. But in Seoul, it is also the hottest fashion brand. On October 14, Palantir opened a pop-up fashion store in the hip Seongsu-dong 성수동 neighborhood, drawing crowds that stood in line for hundreds of meters to pick up t-shirts and stickers. Palantir’s publicity stunt, timed to coincide with CEO Alex Karp’s visit to Seoul, is the company’s first foray into retail fashion since its founding in 2003.
South Korean investors are increasingly opting to directly buy stock in leading United States companies. The trend has coincided with an uptick in investor fandoms. Collectively, Korean retail investors held more than USD 15b of stock in Elon Musk’s companies as of 2022, thanks in large part to the rabid fandom Musk has developed among Korean investors. Karp received similar treatment, with screaming fans rushing to get selfies during his brief visit to the pop-up store, which was open for two days.
