Anthropic Eyes Data Residency in India, Plans Bengaluru Office by 2026

Mumbai – US-based AI model developer Anthropic, known for its Claude series of AI models, is exploring data residency options in India to store enterprise data locally, as it gears up to expand operations in one of its fastest-growing markets.

According to people familiar with the matter, Anthropic is looking to enable data residency through partnerships with Amazon Web Services (AWS), which already operates major cloud regions in Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Data Residency to Support Enterprise Adoption

Currently, Indian enterprises can access Claude models via Amazon Bedrock and Google Cloud Vertex AI. However, local data storage—or residency—would allow Anthropic to store client content within Indian borders, a key requirement for regulated industries such as banking, healthcare, and public sector procurement. This move aligns with why major tech companies' India investments are strategic masterstrokes for the future of AI.

"Data residency lets AI firms assure clients that enterprise content remains stored within a specific country, reducing legal friction," said Leslie Joseph, Principal Analyst at Forrester.

What Data Residency Means (And Doesn't)

For closed API AI providers like Anthropic, data residency typically ensures that:

• Customer content (inputs, outputs, logs, metadata) is stored at rest in the designated geography (India).
• However, model weights, inference engines, and AI compute workloads may still run in other AWS or cloud regions, unless specifically constrained.

"Enterprises often meet residency goals via regional cloud wrappers that isolate data storage without modifying the provider's core AI infrastructure," Joseph added. This approach reflects critical steps to strengthen security in the age of cloud and AI.

AWS Partnership: A Key Enabler

AWS is Anthropic's lead cloud partner and investor, having committed $8 billion to the startup. In India, AWS has deployed Anthropic's custom AI chips - Inferentia and Trainium - for model training and inference acceleration. This infrastructure development mirrors how companies are revolutionizing AI infrastructure with confidence and innovation.

This collaboration strengthens Anthropic's ability to serve Indian clients with enhanced performance and compliance readiness.

Strategic Expansion: First Office in India by 2026

Anthropic has also announced plans to open its first Indian office in Bengaluru by early 2026, signaling its long-term commitment to the market. The announcement follows a closed-door meeting last week between Anthropic executives and startup founders in Bengaluru, where expansion plans and enterprise adoption strategies were discussed. This expansion is part of key trends shaping India's AI startup landscape beyond LLMs and GPU chips.

Claude's India User Base

India is now the second-largest market for Anthropic's Claude model, after the United States — a strong signal of growing AI adoption across Indian enterprises and developers. This growth demonstrates why VCs are betting big on AI application startups in India and the broader ecosystem opportunity.

Regulatory Landscape & Future Readiness

India's new data protection regulations have prompted global tech firms to review their compliance frameworks. While full-fledged AI infrastructure localization is rare, companies like Anthropic are beginning to future-proof operations by enabling data sovereignty features that satisfy enterprise and government procurement norms. These developments benefit from India's new foreign investment rules that could supercharge startup growth.

Outlook

As Indian enterprises increasingly embrace generative AI, data residency and regulatory compliance are becoming critical differentiators for AI service providers. With AWS support and growing traction for Claude, Anthropic is positioning itself to tap into India's regulated sectors, public procurement channels, and tech-forward businesses—all of which demand localized control of data.

This strategic move positions Anthropic to capitalize on how AI and AI agents are powering India's trillion-dollar software leap, while demonstrating India's tech leap in semiconductors, AI, and language innovation that's attracting global AI leaders to establish local presence.