Nam Hyun-woo has worked as a staff writer at The Korea Times since 2013, mostly covering business and politics. He currently belongs to the Business Desk where he covers topics such as emerging tech, AI, ICT and Korea's chaebol community. Prior to joining the team, he was the paper's correspondent for the presidential office of Korea during the Yoon Suk Yeol and Moon Jae-in administrations.
Anthropic opens Seoul office to expand ties with Korean AI ecosystem
Anthropic Korea Representative Director Choi Ki-young speaks during a press conference marking the opening of the company's Seoul office at the Conrad Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Anthropic
By Nam Hyun-woo
AI firm strengthens local ecosystem ties through partnerships with tech companies, startups, research institutions
U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) firm Anthropic opened its Seoul office on Wednesday, as the operator of Claude seeks to expand its ties with Korea’s AI ecosystem.
“Korean companies and institutions recognize innovation and safety as goals that must go hand in hand, not a contradicting value,” Anthropic Korea Representative Director Choi Ki-young said during a press conference.
“Various organizations in the country are using Claude to create positive changes in the lives of millions of people around the world, and the opening of the Seoul office reflects our commitment to build a long-term foundation for collaboration with those leading Korea’s AI ecosystem.”
Choi, who joined Anthropic two weeks ago, is a seasoned expert in Korea’s digital infrastructure industry, having served in leadership roles at Google Cloud, Microsoft Korea, Adobe and Snowflake.
Anthropic International Managing Director Chris Ciauri said Anthropic believes its ultimate responsibility is AI safety, aligning the company with the Korean government and its AI Framework Act, a law designed to address risks stemming from AI services.
“So we see a shared philosophy there, and it’s part of the reason that we’re so excited to launch a business in Korea,” Ciauri said. “We are privileged that as we enter Korea, we’ve already got tremendous momentum in the enterprise, developer and startup sectors.”
Anthropic Korea Representative Director Choi Ki-young, left, answers questions during a press conference marking the opening of the company's Seoul office at the Conrad Seoul, Wednesday. At right is Chris Ciauri, international managing director of Anthropic. Courtesy of Anthropic
Anthropic’s Seoul office comes as Claude is increasingly present in Korea’s enterprise AI ecosystem. Building on its multi-year cooperation with AI service firm WRTN Technologies and legal tech startup Law&Company, Claude has expanded its applications at major conglomerates in recent months.
Korea’s largest web portal Naver recently introduced Claude Code for its entire engineering unit, marking the largest case of enterprise use in Asia. Game developer Nexon also introduced Claude Code for designing code for its live service games.
Anthropic said LG CNS is providing Claude for its employees to develop software and plans to expand coverage to all of LG Group. Samsung SDS is also introducing Claude Cowork and Claude Code for Samsung Electronics employees.
Anthropic International Managing Director Chris Ciauri speaks during a press conference marking the opening of the company's Seoul office at Conrad Seoul, Wednesday. Courtesy of Anthropic
To support the growth of Korea’s AI ecosystem, Choi said it will cooperate with National AI Research Lab, a research consortium including Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology, Korea University, Yonsei University, Pohang University of Science and Technology and other prestigious local institutions.
The company has several events for domestic developers, including Claude Build Day, which hosted more than 100 officials and developers from domestic startups on Tuesday.
On the sidelines of the press conference, Anthropic brought together officials from major domestic companies in a closed-door meeting and to share its business plans in Korea.
Ciauri said company revenue has grown from $9 billion at the end of 2025 to $47 billion as of a few weeks ago, and expects a similar trajectory of growth in Korea.
During the press conference, questions were raised about U.S. export controls on Anthropic's advanced cybersecurity models, Mythos 5 and Fable 5, and the subsequent ban on Korean institutional access to the models. However, company officials refused to comment on the issue. The controversy later escalated after the Washington Post reported that the export restrictions were linked to concerns over a Korean telecom operator's alleged ties to China.