American tech entrepreneur Palmer Freeman Luckey was born on September 19, 1992. He is most renowned for founding Oculus VR, the business that created the Oculus Rift headset, and then co-founding Anduril Industries, a defense technology company that specializes in AI-driven military systems.
Childhood & Oculus VR
Luckey, who was homeschooled by his mother in Long Beach, California, became fascinated with electronics, video games, and science fiction at an early age. He created several VR headgear prototypes in his parents’ garage when he was seventeen years old, which led to the creation of the Oculus Rift.
He formally introduced Oculus VR in 2012 after starting a Kickstarter campaign that raised around $2.4 million, well beyond its $250,000 target.
The acquisition of Oculus by Facebook (later Meta) in 2014 for almost $2 billion thrust Luckey into the public eye.
Leaving Facebook
After Oculus was acquired, Luckey stayed on, but he was fired in 2016–2017 because to scandal surrounding his political donations, which included backing for an activist group that supported Trump.
Internal tensions apparently increased after these discoveries, despite Facebook’s claim that his departure was not politically motivated.
Anduril Industries & Innovation in Defense
Along with Trae Stephens and other former Palantir coworkers, Luckey co-founded Anduril Industries in 2017. The goal is to innovate defense technology in the manner of Silicon Valley.
Anduril provides AI-powered autonomous systems to the U.S. military and its allies, including drones, underwater vehicles, sensor towers, and virtual border security systems.
Anduril succeeded Microsoft as steward of the U.S. Army’s approximately $22 billion IVAS program (mixed-reality combat goggles) in 2025.
Impact on the Public and Wealth
With an estimated net worth of $2–3 billion, Luckey is one of the youngest self-made billionaires.
Anduril is still expanding quickly, and its valuation has risen into the billions.
He is renowned for his unorthodox fashion sense, His favorite outfits include flip-flops and Hawaiian shirts.
Arguments & Rebuttals
As part of his political activity, Luckey funded a Donald Trump-supporting meme campaign that sparked public outrage and played a significant role in his departure from Facebook. His proposal for a conceptual VR helmet that would kill the wearer if their virtual avatar died has also generated controversy; it is a provocative piece of art and an experiment in immersion rather than a tangible product.
In brief
By starting Oculus VR and creating the Oculus Rift headset, Palmer Luckey transformed the virtual reality market.
He moved into defense with **Anduril Industries**, focusing on AI and autonomous systems, after selling it to Facebook for billions.
He is leading the way in modernizing military technology today, and his business and political decisions have generated both praise and criticism.
Palmer Luckey is placing a wager that advancements in computing and software engineering will shape military technology in the future through his defense technology business, Anduril Industries. And it appears that investors agree, since the company is valued at $14 billion.
Anduril, which translates to “flame of the west” from a sword in the Lord of the Rings, has established a reputation as a disruptor in the defense industry. Among its clients are the Australian Defence Force, the United states Department of Defence, and the U.K. Ministry of Defence. Since its founding in 2017, it has sold over a dozen autonomous weaponry and defense systems to the United States.
Anduril’s Lattice OS, which it defines as a “AI-powered open operating system,” is the main power source for these systems, which include autonomous drones, rockets, and submarines. It combines flexible, scalable hardware with AI-driven decision-making.
In an interview with NPR, Luckey described Anduril’s ALTIUS drone, saying that it has “a Lattice brain” that can find and recognize targets and fly into them, “even if they’re jamming you.”
The world is rapidly adopting Anduril’s technology. One of its initial contracts was to provide the Trump administration with AI-powered monitoring towers along the U.S.-Mexico border. By the second week of the conflict, the company’s drones had arrived in Ukraine, and its software was being remotely updated continuously. “Arsenal,” Anduril’s most recent project, intends to “hyperscale” hardware manufacturing through the use of a software platform and related manufacturing facilities.
Before selling it to Facebook for $2 billion in 2014 at the age of 21, Luckey founded Oculus VR, one of the earliest virtual reality firms, for which he appeared on the 2015 cover of TIME. Although he is a Republican donor and has been characterized as having a hyper-techno-optimistic mindset, he has stated that he thinks his company will succeed under any political regime.