U.S. AI research and development company Anthropic said on Tuesday it has appointed Ki-young Choi (최기영) as its Korea head ahead of the opening of its Seoul office.

Anthropic's senior executives plan to visit Seoul in the coming weeks to formally establish the office and meet key customers.

A March Economic Index report released by Anthropic showed Claude usage in South Korea exceeded expectations by 3.5 times relative to population. It is used actively, especially in technology and creative fields. Anthropic will open an office in Seoul and accelerate its local business in response.

Choi most recently served as head of Snowflake Korea and has worked at technology companies for more than 30 years in South Korea and the Asia-Pacific region. Before joining Anthropic, he led South Korea operations at Google Cloud, Adobe, Autodesk and Microsoft.

“Korea is one of the most mature AI markets in the world in terms of hardware innovation, the developer ecosystem and the level of corporate AI adoption,” Choi said. “Domestic companies have both technical capabilities and a commitment to responsible AI, which aligns exactly with the values Anthropic pursues. For these reasons I joined Anthropic, and I will develop the Korea business with a long-term perspective,” he said.

Choi plans to set a tailored local strategy reflecting how Claude is used in the Korean market and to lead efforts to build partnerships spanning companies, developers and researchers. He plans to focus on partnerships with companies and startups, cooperation with government and research institutions, and support for domestic developer communities using Claude.

Chris Ciauri (크리스 차우리), head of Anthropic International, said South Korea is one of the markets with the highest interest in Claude worldwide. Few people understand the Korean technology ecosystem as deeply as Choi, he said. Choi will build the Seoul office team and lead local partnerships so Korean companies can actively use Claude in practical work, he said.