Samsung SDS becomes Korea's first Anthropic 'Select Tier' partner, eyes Claude-based AI expansion

Samsung SDS has become the first company in South Korea to earn Select Tier status in Anthropic's Claude Partner Network.

Samsung SDS announced Tuesday that it had secured the Select Tier designation, following a strategic partnership it signed with Anthropic at an AI summit held in San Francisco in July. The Select Tier is reserved for partners that hold Anthropic-certified technical personnel and can demonstrate hands-on experience building and deploying Claude for joint customers in live production environments.

Samsung SDS already holds authorized reseller status allowing it to supply Claude through Amazon Web Services' generative AI platform Amazon Bedrock and to support its implementation and operation. With the addition of the Claude Partner Network Select Tier, the company plans to offer an end-to-end AI framework covering Claude adoption consulting, Claude supply through Amazon Bedrock, service development and operations, and technical support.

Samsung SDS plans to combine Anthropic's AI technology with its own accumulated AI transformation (AX) experience across multiple industries to expand the development of Claude-based AI services and AI agents.

The two companies began collaborating to grow Claude-based enterprise AI business in the Korean market following the strategic partnership signed in July. Their current cooperation spans joint identification of new business opportunities in the Korean market, co-marketing and proof-of-concept projects, joint business expansion, and the training of applied AI engineers.

Samsung SDS will in particular train applied AI engineers — field specialists who help customers deploy and operate Claude — to strengthen the AI service capabilities of its client companies.

Samsung SDS has also introduced Claude Enterprise for internal use under its "Client Zero" strategy, which calls for applying new technologies in-house before rolling them out to customers. The company currently provides Claude Enterprise to employees at 20 Samsung affiliates, reaching approximately 70,000 staff members.

Samsung SDS intends to draw on its large-scale internal and affiliate deployment experience to build a body of real-world enterprise use cases for Claude, then extend those insights into AX projects for its clients.

"Samsung SDS is a partner with the technical capabilities and industry expertise to apply AI to real business operations in enterprise environments," said Chris Chaury, head of international go-to-market at Anthropic. "Through this Select Tier designation in the Claude Partner Network, we will deepen our collaboration and support Korean companies in maximizing productivity with Claude."

Lee Jun-hee, CEO of Samsung SDS, said the company would "combine Anthropic's frontier AI technology with Samsung SDS's industry-specific digital transformation experience to accelerate AI adoption among Korean businesses and help them create business value." He added that Samsung SDS would "integrate global AI technologies, including Claude, with our multi-dimensional AI full stack to support customers' AX journeys."