[SINGAPORE] Artificial intelligence company Anthropic will open its office in Singapore next month, marking its fifth location in the Asia-Pacific region to support strong enterprise demand for its AI model, Claude.

The move comes as Singapore establishes itself as a “standout market” for its AI assistant Claude, Anthropic said in a statement on Wednesday (Sep 16).

Based on Anthropic’s latest Economic Index, the Republic ranks second globally out of 121 countries for Claude usage per capita. The data revealed local adoption is running 5.81 times higher than expected relative to the nation’s population size.

The new office will join Anthropic’s existing regional network in Tokyo, Bengaluru, Seoul and Sydney. Senior company executives are scheduled to visit Singapore in October for the opening, where they will meet customers, partners and policymakers.

“As we grow across Apac, 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.”

Anthropic said that it will work with organisations of “every size – from startups and digital natives to large enterprises and the public sector”.

Demand has been particularly strong in regulated sectors, such as financial services and government, it said.

To lead regional commercial operations, Anthropic appointed Dale Finlay as general manager of Asean. He will be based in Singapore.

Finlay previously spent nearly a decade at Google Cloud in go-to-market leadership roles spanning enterprise, financial services and AI portfolios across Apac.

Anthropic has initiated local hiring across several operational roles to support the new entity. According to its website, there are currently nine open roles across finance, sales, applied AI, marketing and public benefit.

The company has not confirmed the location of the new office.

Prior to the announcement, The Business Times reported in August that Anthropic had leased about 100 desks within The Executive Centre facility at Ocean Financial Centre in Collyer Quay.

The GIC-backed company’s international expansion into Singapore follows similar moves made by the likes of OpenAI and Google DeepMind.

In May, OpenAI announced that it will open its first Applied AI Lab outside the US in Singapore, and hire more than 200 specialised AI professionals over the next few years as part of a S$300 million investment in the Republic. In August, it was said to be in talks to lease about 100,000 square feet of offices at the new Shaw Tower in Beach Road.