Palantir Technologies and Anduril Industries, two major US defense technology companies, are in discussions to form a consortium with about a dozen competitors to bid for US government contracts. The consortium, which may include SpaceX, OpenAI, Saronic, and Scale AI, aims to disrupt the traditional oligopoly of defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing. The group plans to leverage their advanced technologies to offer more efficient defense and weapons capabilities to the US government, targeting a larger share of the US's $850 billion defense budget. The consortium is expected to announce agreements with some tech groups as early as January.