Anthropic Opens Seoul Office Amid Washington's AI Export Controls

US artificial intelligence company Anthropic PBC has reaffirmed its global expansion plans with the official launch of a new office in Seoul, South Korea. The expansion into South Korea follows the company’s decision to revoke access to its most advanced AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after the Donald Trump administration ordered the suspension of access for foreign nationals. The Washington Post reported on Thursday, 18 June, that the move came after officials in Washington discovered that one of the entities scheduled to receive access to Mythos was a South Korean telecommunications company ‘suspected of having ties to China’ by the US government.

Chris Ciauri, Anthropic’s international managing director, said during a press conference, ‘Korea is one of our fastest-growing markets globally … because of the technical base and developers you have.’ According to a company report published in March, South Korea ranks 12th out of 116 countries in per capita usage of Claude, Anthropic’s AI model. ‘I would not be surprised if that 12th ranking … shifts to a single digit very quickly,’ Ciauri added.

As part of its expansion strategy in the country, Anthropic stated it plans to build a partnership ecosystem with major hyperscaler service providers, including Google Cloud, Microsoft, and Amazon. The company also noted it is reviewing data residency options that comply with local regulatory frameworks. When questioned about Washington’s export restrictions on advanced AI models, the executive declined to elaborate. ‘We are not going to comment on Project Glassfish at this time,’ he said, referring to the company’s cybersecurity initiative that provides early access to Anthropic’s advanced AI models for critical organisations and enterprises.