Anthropic opens a Seoul office and names KiYoung Choi to lead it

Anthropic has announced a new office in Seoul and the appointment of KiYoung Choi as its head of Korea. The investment reflects Claude's growing popularity in the Korean market, where the platform is used far more heavily than in other countries.

Korea as a hub of AI innovation

According to Anthropic's latest Economic Index, Koreans use Claude 3.5 times more than their share of the population would suggest. That is one of the highest rates in the world. Usage is concentrated in technical and creative work: software development, data analysis, writing and content creation.

Korea's technology landscape is unusual. The country leads in electronics and semiconductors (Samsung, SK Hynix), has some of the fastest internet in the world and a large, active developer community. Claude is finding uses across a wide range of industries, from small startups to the largest corporations. This is a market where large language models meet real demand.

There are already production examples. Law&Company, a law firm, uses Claude in an AI assistant that speeds up searches of legal databases and document preparation without losing accuracy. SK Telecom, Korea's largest mobile carrier, has deployed Claude in a custom customer service model that improves support quality and takes load off human agents. These are not pilot projects: they are production deployments at the scale of large organizations.

A leader with the right background

KiYoung Choi, the new head of Korea, joins Anthropic from Snowflake, where he spent three years running the business for the Korean market. He brings more than three decades of experience leading tech companies in Korea and the APAC region. Choi has worked at Google Cloud, Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft, helping Korea's largest companies get through successive waves of technological change: cloud, mobile and now AI.

The choice of Choi is no accident. Anthropic picks leaders who understand not only the tech business but also local culture. Choi knows how to work with large corporations, support startups and build relationships with the government, a rare combination of skills.

"Korea is one of the most advanced AI markets on the planet.

We lead in hardware innovation, developers here are skilled and engaged, and enterprises adopt new technology quickly. Korean organizations combine technical depth with a responsible approach to deploying AI. That is exactly where I see Anthropic growing over the long term," Choi said.

Plans for the region

The new Seoul team will focus on four areas:

• Partnerships with Korean enterprises and the fast-growing startup community
• Dialogue with the Korean government and research institutions
• Developer support: hackathons, local documentation and community meetups
• A go-to-market strategy adapted to the specifics of the Korean market

Anthropic's leadership plans to visit Seoul in the coming weeks for the official opening of the office and meetings with key customers. Chris Ciauri, Managing Director of International at Anthropic, said: "Korea is one of the markets where we see the most enthusiasm for Claude. KiYoung will build the team and create local partnerships to support what Korean organizations are already building on Claude."

What this means

For the Korean tech community, it confirms that Anthropic sees Korea not as one market among many but as a strategic regional hub. For Claude, it is another major focus area with direct backing at the executive level. For Korea itself, it reinforces its status as a leading AI center, where top global AI companies come to build locally and invest for the long term.