Anthropic to open Singapore office in October

Anthropic will open an office in Singapore in October. The artificial intelligence company announced the move on September 16, calling Singapore a standout market for its Claude AI assistant.

This will be Anthropic's fifth office in the Asia-Pacific region, joining existing locations in Tokyo, Bengaluru, Seoul, and Sydney. The company stated that establishing a local presence is a natural next step given the strong enterprise demand it sees in the country, particularly within regulated sectors like financial services and government.

Strong local demand for Claude

According to Anthropic's own Economic Index, Singapore ranks second among 121 countries for Claude.ai usage relative to its population. Usage in the city-state is 5.81 times higher than would be expected based on population size alone. Chris Ciauri, Anthropic's managing director of international, said the office will allow the company to hire people who know the local market best and work closely with customers and partners.

"A presence here means we can hire the people who know this market best, and work side by side with local customers and partners building with Claude," Ciauri said. Anthropic plans to work with organizations of all sizes in Singapore, from startups to large enterprises and the public sector.

Leadership and hiring plans

To lead its commercial operations in the region, Anthropic has appointed Dale Finlay as general manager of ASEAN. Finlay, who will be based in the new Singapore office, previously spent nearly a decade at Google Cloud in various go-to-market leadership roles across the APAC region.

The company has already begun local hiring to support the new entity. As of the announcement, nine open roles were listed on its website spanning several functions.

Competitive landscape and office location

Anthropic's expansion follows similar moves by rivals in the competitive AI sector. In May, OpenAI announced plans to open its first Applied AI Lab outside the United States in Singapore, part of a S$300 million investment that includes hiring over 200 AI professionals. By August, OpenAI was reportedly in talks to lease about 100,000 square feet of office space at the new Shaw Tower on Beach Road.

The location of Anthropic's own new office has not been officially confirmed. However, The Business Times reported in August that the company had leased approximately 100 desks within The Executive Centre facility at Ocean Financial Centre in Collyer Quay. Singapore, founded in 1965 and governed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, has become a significant hub for global investment and technology firms. The expansion is backed by GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, which focuses on global equities, fixed income, and private equity investments.