Microsoft and Palantir have announced an expansion of their partnership, one focused on bringing secure cloud options to US national security missions.

The two companies both have a long history of working on secure government services and environments. Microsoft, for example, gained Impact Level 6 certification in late 2019, the highest IT security certification the Pentagon provides. Impact Level 6 allows the company to store classified data in the cloud.

Microsoft and Palantir are working on an integrated suite of products and services for classified operations, according to a Microsoft blog post.

Palantir Technologies Inc. and Microsoft Corporation announce today a significant advancement in their partnership to bring some of the most sophisticated and secure cloud, AI and analytics capabilities to the U.S. Defense and Intelligence Community. This is a first-of-its-kind, integrated suite of technology that will allow critical national security missions to operationalize Microsoft’s best-in-class large language models (LLMs) via Azure OpenAI Service within Palantir’s AI Platforms (AIP) in Microsoft’s government and classified cloud environments.

“Bringing Palantir and Microsoft capabilities to our national security apparatus is a step change in how we can support the defense and intelligence communities,” said Shyam Sankar, Chief Technology Officer, Palantir. “Palantir AIP has pioneered the approach to operationalizing AI value – beyond chat — across the enterprise. It’s our mission to deliver this software advantage and we’re thrilled to be the first industry partner to deploy Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service in classified environments.”

“This expanded partnership between Microsoft and Palantir will help accelerate the safe, secure and responsible deployment of advanced AI capabilities for the U.S. government,” said Deb Cupp, President of Microsoft Americas. “Palantir, a leader in delivering actionable insights to government, will now leverage the power of Microsoft’s government and classified clouds and robust Azure OpenAI models to further develop AI innovations for national security missions.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Palantir will deploy its suite of products on Microsoft Azure Government, as well as “be an early adopter of Azure’s OpenAI Service in Microsoft’s Secret and Top Secret environments.”

The companies says that “availability of the services is subject to completion of authorization and accreditation by appropriate government agencies.”