Anthropic opens Seoul office amid US AI export controls

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic PBC has officially launched its Seoul office, signaling a commitment to global expansion. This move comes after the U.S. administration ordered Anthropic to suspend foreign nationals' access to its most advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5. The Washington Post reported that this measure was a response to officials discovering that one of the entities slated to receive access to Mythos was a South Korean telecommunications company suspected of having ties to China.

Chris Ciauri, international managing director of Anthropic, stated at a press conference in Seoul that South Korea is one of the company's fastest-growing markets due to its technical and developer base. He indicated that South Korea could quickly become one of their fastest markets globally. According to an Anthropic report from March, South Korea ranked 12th among 116 countries in per capita usage of Claude, Anthropic's AI model, with Ciauri suggesting this ranking could soon move into single digits.

As part of its expansion strategy in South Korea, Anthropic plans to establish a partner ecosystem with major hyperscalers, including Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Amazon. The company is also reviewing data residency options to ensure compliance with local regulatory frameworks. When questioned about the U.S. export control restrictions on its advanced AI models, Ciauri declined to comment, referring to the company's cybersecurity initiative, Project Glasswing.