Anthropic opens Seoul office amid US AI export controls

Anthropic PBC has reaffirmed its strategy to expand its enterprise presence globally with the official launch of a new office in Seoul, South Korea, News.Az reports, citing Yonhap.

The company’s move into South Korea comes after the U.S. artificial intelligence firm restricted access to its most advanced AI models—“Fable 5” and “Mythos 5”—following an order from the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump requiring the suspension of access for foreign nationals.

According to The Washington Post, the restriction was prompted after U.S. officials discovered that one of the entities slated to receive access to Mythos was a South Korean telecommunications company suspected by the administration of having potential ties to China.

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Chris Ciauri, international managing director at Anthropic, said: “Korea is one of our fastest growing markets in the world… because of the technical and developer base that you have.”

He added: “It could definitely become one of our fastest markets in the world.”

The expansion highlights Anthropic’s continued push into international markets even as Washington tightens oversight of advanced AI model access under evolving export control measures.

South Korea ranked 12th among 116 countries in terms of its per capita usage of Claude, Anthropic's AI model, according to the company's report published in March.

"It wouldn't surprise me if that 12th ... were to go single digits quite quickly," Ciauri said.

As part of its expansion strategy here, Anthropic said it plans to forge a partner ecosystem with major hyperscalers, including Google Cloud, Microsoft and Amazon. It is also reviewing data residency options that comply with local regulatory frameworks, the company added.

When asked about Washington's export control restrictions on its advanced AI models, the executive refrained from elaborating further.

"We are not going to comment on Project Glasswing at this point," he said, referring to the company's cybersecurity initiative that provide critical organizations and companies early access to Anthropic's advanced AI models.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev