Chinese regulators have scuppered Meta’s planned $2 billion purchase of AI start-up Manus, intensifying the global battle for technological supremacy between Beijing and Washington.
Announced in December 2025, the deal sought to embed Manus’s pioneering autonomous agents into Meta’s platforms, enhancing its AI capabilities at a time when the Facebook owner was pouring resources into the field despite recent job cuts numbering in the thousands.
Manus, which relocated its base from China to Singapore, promotes agents that independently plan, execute, and complete tasks, setting them apart from chatbots requiring constant user prompts.
On Monday, the National Development and Reform Commission ruled against the foreign investment, insisting that “the parties involved to withdraw the acquisition transaction.” A Meta spokesperson told the BBC, “The transaction complied fully with applicable law.” They added, “We anticipate an appropriate resolution to the inquiry.”
The decision caps months of scrutiny, including reports that Manus’s co-founders were barred from leaving China during the review. Deep integration of Manus’s team into Meta could now unravel, posing operational headaches and financial hits for the tech giant.
“The outstanding team at Manus is now deeply integrated into Meta, running, improving and growing the Manus service and will continue to make it available to the millions of people who enjoy it,” the spokesperson had said earlier.
Beijing’s strict tech export controls, which previously complicated deals like TikTok’s U.S. operations under President Donald Trump, underpin the block. Such measures aim to keep vital innovations domestic amid China’s rise as an AI powerhouse.
The move coincides with fresh U.S. warnings. Last Friday, the White House pledged tighter collaboration with American AI firms to thwart theft of breakthroughs, blaming “foreign entities, principally based in China.”
China’s Washington embassy countered, decrying “the unjustified suppression of Chinese companies by the U.S.”
“China is not only the world’s factory but is also becoming the world’s innovation lab,” the representative added.
Analysts see this as a stark reminder of geopolitical risks in tech mergers, with McKinsey projecting China to claim 30 per cent of the global AI market by 2030.