# 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.
- Title: Anthropic plants its flag in Singapore's AI race · Fortune
- Summary: 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…
- Keywords: anthropic, singapore, openai, southeast asia, claude, dale finlay, chris ciauri, ai expansion, asia-pacific, plaud, nathan xu, office opening
- Source: Fortune — https://fortune.com/2026/09/16/anthropic-open-singapore-office-october-chasing-openai-southeast-asia
- Author: Angelica Ang
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: anthropic, singapore, openai, southeast asia, claude, dale finlay, chris ciauri, ai expansion, asia-pacific, plaud, nathan xu, office opening
## 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.
## Key takeaway

Singapore is becoming the key battleground for U.S. AI companies expanding into Southeast Asia, with Anthropic now joining OpenAI in the city-state.