From Fortune · Angelica Ang · · 1m 20s
Anthropic plants its flag in Singapore's AI race
The Claude maker opens its first Southeast Asian office in October, following OpenAI into the region's booming AI market.
In brief
The Claude maker opens its first Southeast Asian office in October, following OpenAI into the region's booming AI market. Singapore is becoming the key battleground for U.S. AI companies expanding into Southeast Asia, with Anthropic now joining OpenAI in the city-state. Originally reported by Fortune.
Anthropic opens Singapore office
The AI company is launching its first Southeast Asian hub in October. It's Anthropic's fifth Asia-Pacific location after Tokyo, Seoul, Bengalaru and Sydney.
Singapore loves Claude
The city-state ranks second globally in Claude usage per capita, behind only Australia. This makes it a natural expansion target for Anthropic.
OpenAI executive jumps ship
Dale Finlay will lead Anthropic's regional expansion after just six months as OpenAI's Southeast Asia go-to-market head. He says trust, not ambition, blocks AI adoption.
“From working with customers across Southeast Asia, I've seen that ambition isn't the blocker to AI adoption, trust is.”
Playing catch-up to OpenAI
OpenAI opened its Asia headquarters in Singapore in late 2024 and is now leasing 100,000 square feet of new office space. It recently hired Meta's South Asia head.
Singapore's billion-dollar AI bet
The city-state wants to become an AI nation and has committed over $770 million to strengthen public AI capabilities. Its stable politics attract tech companies.
Plaud also picks Singapore
The AI note-taker maker opened its regional headquarters the same day, growing from 10 to 100 people in nine months. It's investing $15.7 million in the country.
“If we can make AI feel natural here, we can make it feel natural anywhere in the world.”
The big picture
Singapore is becoming the key battleground for U.S. AI companies expanding into Southeast Asia, with Anthropic now joining OpenAI in the city-state.
