Salesforce enters the national security game

Salesforce, a global leader in customer relationship management, has recorded consistent and significant growth in its financial performance in recent years. The company’s revenue increased from $26 billion in 2022 to nearly $38 billion in fiscal year 2025, reflecting its expanding scale of operations and effective market expansion. During the same period, EBITDA grew dynamically from around $5 billion to over $11 billion, indicating improved operational efficiency and better cost management.

Salesforce’s operating margin rose from 7% in 2022 to 18% in 2025, while net margin increased from 6% to 15%, demonstrating the company’s growing profitability. This margin expansion is primarily driven by scaling operations, better utilization of fixed costs, optimization of operational expenses through automation and IT infrastructure management, as well as the growth of cloud services delivered in a subscription-based SaaS model. Additionally, a greater share of more profitable segments—such as AI and solutions for the public sector—and more effective control of sales and marketing costs are also supporting margin improvement.

However, it’s not just strong financial fundamentals that are catching the attention of analysts and investors. Salesforce recently announced the launch of a new business unit called Missionforce, dedicated to the national security market and advanced AI solutions for U.S. government agencies and the military. This strategic expansion aims not only to diversify revenue streams but also to directly compete with Palantir Technologies, a long-time dominant player in the government tech contracts space.

Missionforce, led by Kendall Collins (former CEO of Salesforce Government Cloud), aspires to implement integrated AI systems to support logistics, operational analysis, and personnel management within military and intelligence structures. In practice, this means building intelligent platforms that offer real-time decision-making support for analysts and commanders, while maintaining the highest standards of data security.

Given the growing demand from government institutions for advanced digital technologies and automation, Salesforce sees massive potential in the public sector. Importantly, company executives have openly acknowledged that Salesforce is directly targeting government contracts that have traditionally been the domain of Palantir. Salesforce’s value proposition combines a powerful cloud computing infrastructure, deep CRM experience, and increasingly advanced AI algorithms aimed at competing with Palantir’s established analytics solutions.

However, despite its solid financial foundation, Salesforce shares have significantly underperformed the broader U.S. market in 2025. From the beginning of the year to mid-September, the company’s stock lost around 25–28% of its value, while the S&P 500 benchmark gained approximately 12%. This divergence in performance highlights that Salesforce stock remains under pressure and is clearly lagging behind the market as a whole.

The current strategic shift and expansion into the national security sector may represent a turning point. Salesforce is not only consolidating its position in the corporate space but is also opening itself to new, high-potential revenue streams. The U.S. government IT and AI contract market is one of the most promising growth areas for the coming decade.

From an investor’s perspective, the decision to enter this market, combined with improving operational results, sends a clear signal that Salesforce aspires to become not just a tech player, but also a geostrategic one. The competition with Palantir is just beginning, and Missionforce could prove to be a key tool in the battle for multibillion-dollar contracts that will shape the future of America’s digital security.