Anthropic launches Seoul office amid Washington's AI export controls

SEOUL, June 18 (Yonhap) -- Anthropic PBC reaffirmed its plan to scale its enterprise globally, as it announced the official launch of its Seoul office.

Anthropic's expansion into South Korea comes after the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) company decided to remove access to its most advanced AI models -- Fable 5 and Mythos 5 -- after the Donald Trump administration ordered the company to suspend foreign nationals' access to them.

The Washington Post reported the measure followed Washington officials' discovery that one of the entities slated to receive access to Mythos was a South Korean telecommunications company that the administration "suspected of having ties to China."

"Korea is one of our fastest growing markets in the world ... because of the technical and developer base that you have," said Chris Ciauri, the international managing director of the U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) company at a press conference on Wednesday.

"It could definitely become one of our fastest markets in the world."

Chris Ciauri, the international managing director of Anthropic PBC, speaks at a press conference held in Seoul on June 17, 2026, in this photo provided by the company. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

"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.