US software developer Palantir is launching an operating system to help power generation and distribution companies accelerate AI data center buildouts.

Dubbed Chain Reaction, the system was developed in partnership with CenterPoint Energy and Nvidia. The rationale behind its creation, the companies contend, is that power has become the biggest bottleneck for AI development, requiring new tools to support the buildout of both data centers and the infrastructure that powers them.

“The energy infrastructure buildout is the industrial challenge of our generation,” said Tristan Gruska, Palantir’s head of energy and infrastructure. “But the software that the sector relies on was not built for this moment. We have spent years quietly deploying systems that keep power plants running and grids reliable. Chain Reaction is the result of building from the ground up for the demands of AI.”

According to Palantir, the Chain Reaction platform is designed to modernize aging power plants for AI-era reliability, stabilize and expand strained power grids, accelerate the buildout of new energy and computing infrastructure, and streamline the design of hyperscale data centers to meet the soaring demands of AI.

Through partnering with CenterPoint, which serves around seven million customers across Texas, Indiana, Minnesota, and Ohio, Palantir aims to accelerate speed-to-power and improve operational visibility across its critical assets.

“In the Greater Houston region, our energy consumption is projected to increase by nearly 50 percent in five years and double by the mid-2030s. This exponential growth is being driven by a diverse set of sectors, including high tech, healthcare, energy, industrial, pharmaceutical, and fleet, and is accelerating job creation across the communities we are privileged to serve. We are excited to team with Palantir and our other Chain Reaction partners to enable this future sooner,” said Jason Wells, chair & CEO of CenterPoint Energy.

Its partnership with Nvidia will see the platform support Nvidia AI infrastructure installations across the US by streamlining the complexity of managing the complex supply chains supporting gigawatt-scale AI factory buildouts across power generation, power distribution, construction, and data center operations.

“A new industrial revolution has begun - one where intelligence is manufactured at scale through an extraordinarily complex supply chain of AI infrastructure, now being built across America to strengthen our economy, workforce, and security,” said Vladimir Troy, vice president, AI Infrastructure, Nvidia. “By partnering with Palantir and our ecosystem, we are accelerating this transformation - powering the engines of the AI age, transforming data into intelligence and securing America’s technology leadership for decades to come.”

Palantir was launched in 2003 by Peter Thiel, and builds software to help organizations create and run artificial intelligence across private and public networks. An early investor of the company was the CIA through its venture capital branch, In-Q-Tel.

Documents provided by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden suggested that Palantir played a role in creating the US government's international spy program, PRISM. Palantir denies any connection.