Palantir, founded in 2003 by a group that included Peter Thiel, the company’s chairman, and CEO Alex Karp, has benefitted from a booming government business, which grew 45% to $373 million last quarter. That includes a $178 million contract to build artificial intelligence-enabled systems for the U.S. Army.

In an aminated shareholder letter attached to the company’s earnings report, Karp applauded his company’s controversial defense business and suggested that some former critics in Silicon Valley have “turned a corner and begun following our lead.”