Anthropic, a US-based leading artificial intelligence company that created the popular large language model (LLM) 'Claude', has announced it plans to establish an office in Gangnam, Seoul, in early 2026.
The development continues a period of significant global expansion by Anthropic, which aims to triple its international workforce in response to the surge in demand for Claude LLM beyond the US.
This office will mark Korea as Anthropic's third significant hub in the Asia-Pacific region, following India and Japan.
Through this entry into Korea, Anthropic intends to recruit local talent, enhance collaboration with domestic startups and large corporations, and engage in the development of Korea’s AI innovation ecosystem.
“Korea is leading AI innovation in Asia, and Claude is already being used widely,” Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei said. "In Korea, which has a world-class technology ecosystem, we will work with partner corporations to realise AI’s limitless potential.”
Paul Smith, chief commercial officer, Anthropic, said: "Out of the top five [Anthropic] users globally, three are in Asia: Korea, Japan, and India. The growth is going to accelerate in 2026. We're focused on the enterprise business, and we're now just approaching $7b of revenue. The startup will open its Seoul office in early 2026, while already providing services to partners like SK Telecom, which invested $100m in the startup in 2023.”
The "Claude for Startups" initiative, designed to bolster Korea's startup and corporate ecosystem, is garnering significant domestic interest. For instance, the legal tech startup Law&Company used Claude to enhance legal workflows, resulting in a 1.7-fold increase in work efficiency.
Anthropic intends to create an organisation specifically designed for the Korean market. It has already designated a leader to manage collaboration with the local Start-Up ecosystem and will recruit further staff, including a country manager for Korea.
With the establishment of the Korea office, Anthropic intends to enhance collaboration with the local AI community, policymakers, and government entities.
