Palantir signs partnership with Korean footwear manufacturer

Few people who lace up a pair of Nike sneakers have heard of Changshin, but there is a good chance the Busan-based company made them. And before long, those shoes may carry Palantir's technology, too.

Palantir Technologies said Friday it has signed a partnership agreement with Changshin, which has been producing Nike sneakers under contract since the 1980s.

According to the two sides, Changshin will deploy Palantir’s Foundry and Artificial Intelligence Platform (AIP) across its footwear development and production operations.

Foundry integrates and analyzes enterprise-wide data in one place, and AIP brings generative artificial intelligence (AI) into business workflows.

Building on these platforms, Changshin said it will seamlessly connect information flows from footwear development and sample production planning to factory operations. This will allow the company to gain a comprehensive view of its manufacturing processes and enable closer collaboration across departments.

The partnership is based on the results of a recent AgentCamp, a program in which participants develop AI agents and apply them to real-world business operations. During the program, Changshin engineers and Palantir worked together to develop and demonstrate initial workflows using Changshin's actual operational data, confirming their potential to improve operational efficiency.

Changshin was founded in 1981 and began producing Nike sneakers in 1987. According to Vietnam-focused news outlet Inside Vina, the company now produces approximately 69 million pairs of Nike shoes annually, ranking among the world's top three manufacturers of Nike footwear.

According to the company, it has produced more than 1 billion pairs of shoes since its founding and now operates across Vietnam, China and Indonesia, employing more than 80,000 people. In 2025, the company posted revenue of 2.28 trillion won ($1.68 billion) and an operating profit of 118.5 billion won.

“Behind every shoe Changshin produces is a series of decisions, from development and sample planning to the factory floor,” Palantir Chief Revenue Officer Ryan Taylor said. “Together, we’re deploying Foundry and AIP to transform end-to-end processes, building on Changshin’s deep expertise, and keeping Changshin in control of how AI is applied, every step of the way.”

Changshin CEO Nam Choong-il said the partnership will be an opportunity to develop Changshin’s manufacturing expertise further.

“We will link decisions made at the development stage with feedback from the production floor to quickly identify and respond to variables in the production process,” Nam said. “We will turn the experience we accumulate along the way into an asset and grow it into unrivaled manufacturing competitiveness that is uniquely Changshin’s.”