January 16, 2026 — 5:00am
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Anthropic, the multibillion-dollar US start-up that develops one of the world’s most popular AI chatbots, Claude, is in the early stages of setting up shop in Australia, as the federal government ramps up efforts to lure foreign technology investment.
Documents filed with the corporate regulator in December show the $US350 billion ($523.7 billion) AI firm has applied to set up a local subsidiary, Anthropic Australia, registered to the address of its lawyers at Baker McKenzie in Sydney’s Barangaroo.
The filing lists Anthropic’s California-based general counsel, Jeffrey Bleich, and David Cowper as the company’s Australian directors.
Anthropic’s Claude chatbot and underlying technology have gained traction with enterprise customers around the world. Bloomberg
Anthropic, which was founded in 2021 by former OpenAI employees and siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, is expected to reveal more about its plans for the Australian market in the first half of this year. The company has yet to announce who will be its country head, and what its primary business functions will be in the local market.
Little else is currently known about Anthropic’s priorities for Australia. But the market has become a target for competitors across the technology sector in recent years, as the world’s largest AI companies race to expand their global operations with a range of commercial and infrastructure deals.
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Anthropic, through a spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Anthropic is set to become the second major AI company to establish an Australian presence in just months. Late last year, ChatGPT maker OpenAI celebrated the opening of its Australian head office with an event at the Museum of Contemporary Art, along with a spate of partnerships with some of Australia’s biggest companies.
The arrival of OpenAI, and soon Anthropic, come amid a string of AI initiatives launched by the Albanese government aimed at bolstering Australia’s local AI capability, boosting productivity, and attracting commercial and infrastructure investment.
The AI boom has already seen OpenAI commit over $US500 billion to the data centre infrastructure required to power its technology around the world. Over the last year, Australia has been trying to position itself as a hub for data centre investment across the region.
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In December, OpenAI’s investments – first announced as part of the company’s Stargate project at the White House last January – extended to Australia, when the company announced it’d struck a $7 billion deal with ASX-listed NextDC for a data centre in Sydney’s Eastern Creek.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers dubbed the deal a “terrific outcome” for the economy and the tech sector.
“It’s more proof Australia has the talent, clean energy potential, trade partnerships, and policy settings needed to be one of the big winners when it comes [to] AI,” Chalmers said in a statement last month.
“Partnerships like these will help create good jobs, boost skills, and spread AI adoption across our economy.”
Commonwealth Bank senior economist Ashwin Clarke said he expects a modest uplift in investment growth in the Australian economy of about 3.5 per cent a year through the second half 2026, and into 2027, supported by investments in data centres and renewable projects.
“We estimate the combined renewable and data centre investment pipeline of potential projects is very large at [about] $150 billion. The timing is uncertain, but much of this will be invested over the next five years, with a ramp-up as early as 2027.”
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John Buckley is a CBD columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.From our partners