Palantir has won a $480 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense for a prototype known as the Maven Smart System, the department said on Wednesday, deepening the data analytics provider's work with the Pentagon.

The contract has an expected May 2029 completion date and follows the Defense Department's solicitation of a sole bid, it said.

Maven takes in data from various sources to identify military points of interest and to speed up intelligence analysts' work, according to one brigade's description of the system earlier this year.

AI-assisted target identification has drawn controversy in the technology sector from some workers who did not want to build systems for war, and from critics who fear lethal strike decisions could have minimal human oversight.

Palantir did not immediately issue a statement.

  - Reuters