Anthropic opens Singapore office in Asia-Pacific push

Anthropic will open an office in Singapore, its fifth in Asia-Pacific. The artificial intelligence company already has offices in Tokyo, Bengaluru, Seoul and Sydney.

The Singapore office is part of a wider regional expansion as Anthropic responds to business demand for its Claude model.

The move also includes a senior hire in Southeast Asia. Dale Finlay has joined as General Manager of ASEAN and will be based in Singapore, working with customers and partners across the region.

Anthropic plans to work with organisations in Singapore ranging from start-ups and digital-native businesses to large companies and public sector bodies. Interest has been particularly strong in regulated industries, including financial services and government.

Singapore is already one of Anthropic's more active markets for Claude. Its latest Economic Index ranked Singapore second among 121 countries for Claude.ai usage relative to population, with usage 5.81 times above the level expected based on population size.

The new office gives Anthropic a physical presence in a market where adoption is already high. It also places the company in a regional business hub that hosts multinational companies, technology workers and research institutions, at a time when competition among artificial intelligence firms for customers in Asia is intensifying.

Anthropic intends to hire for a range of roles in Singapore but did not disclose staffing numbers.

Chris Ciauri, Managing Director of International at Anthropic, linked the decision to local usage and the company's regional growth plans.

"As we grow across Asia-Pacific, opening an office in Singapore-where Claude usage per capita is among the highest in the world-is a natural next step," said Chris Ciauri, Managing Director of International at Anthropic.

"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.

Regional role

Finlay's appointment gives Anthropic a dedicated executive focused on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations market. He previously held go-to-market leadership roles at technology companies across Asia-Pacific, including nearly a decade at Google Cloud in positions covering artificial intelligence, financial services and enterprise customers.

His remit is expected to centre on building commercial relationships and supporting deployments across Southeast Asia. Anthropic has identified trust, governance and operational integration as key themes in discussions with businesses adopting artificial intelligence tools, particularly in tightly supervised sectors.

"From working with customers across Southeast Asia, I've seen that ambition isn't the blocker to AI adoption-trust is. Once that trust exists, the real work is embedding AI into how the business actually operates," said Dale Finlay, General Manager of ASEAN at Anthropic.

"Anthropic has built Claude around exactly those standards, and I look forward to working with customers here as they bring Claude into their most important work," Finlay said.

Singapore focus

Singapore has become a key location for global technology companies seeking access to Southeast Asian customers, investment and talent. The city-state has also pushed the use of artificial intelligence across industry and government while maintaining an emphasis on oversight and responsible use.

That helps explain why artificial intelligence suppliers are investing in local teams rather than serving the market solely from other regional centres. For companies selling to banks, state agencies and large corporations, proximity to decision-makers and regulators can shape sales, implementation and policy engagement.

Anthropic said senior leaders will travel to Singapore for the office opening and to meet customers, partners and policymakers. It did not provide further operational detail on the office, but its comments suggest the site will serve as both a commercial base for Singapore and a broader point of contact for Southeast Asia.

The expansion underlines how Asia-Pacific is becoming a more contested market for artificial intelligence developers seeking revenue from corporate customers, especially in sectors where concerns about risk, compliance and data handling play a larger role in buying decisions. In that environment, companies are increasingly pairing product distribution with local management hires and on-the-ground teams.

Anthropic said demand in Singapore has been strongest in regulated sectors such as financial services and government.