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China is tightening oversight of the artificial intelligence sector amid intensifying geopolitical competition with the United States. On April 27, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said its Foreign Investment Security Review Office decided to block foreign investment related to Manus’ acquisition and asked the parties to unwind the transaction, citing compliance with applicable law.
The NDRC notice did not provide additional details or name the buyer. However, it was reported that the acquisition involves Meta, a U.S. technology company. Manus was founded in China in 2022 and moved its headquarters to Singapore in 2025. The company develops multipurpose AI agents intended to carry out complex tasks with minimal human intervention.
In December 2025, Meta announced it would acquire Manus for $2 billion. The deal was described as a way to expand AI products and services across Meta’s ecosystem. In January 2026, China said it would review whether the acquisition complied with existing laws and regulations.
According to Bloomberg, in the weeks following China’s review announcement, the NDRC and other authorities asked leading AI startups to decline funding from U.S. investors unless they had explicit approval.
Liu Xu, a researcher at the National Strategy Institute at Tsinghua University, said advanced-technology deals are under tight scrutiny—particularly transactions involving foreign takeovers of high-valuation firms or deals that could risk loss of control over important patents or technology to foreigners.
In response to the NDRC statement, Meta said the transaction fully complies with applicable laws. A White House spokesperson said the administration would continue to protect U.S. technology from inappropriate foreign interference.
The decision regarding Manus came weeks before Donald Trump was expected to visit China. Discussions anticipated around that visit include investment, access to technology, AI and trade. It remains unclear whether the Manus dispute will be a significant topic in Washington.
Some analysts argue China’s move is largely symbolic. They note that reversing the deal could be difficult because capital and technology transfers may already have occurred. Bloomberg reported that Meta has integrated Manus’ source code into its services.
Beijing’s leverage over Meta may also be limited, particularly because Meta’s core services such as Facebook and Instagram are blocked in China.
Separately, the article highlights how many leading researchers have left major technology firms such as Meta and Google to start new ventures, supported by a surge in funding for early-stage AI labs. David Silver, formerly a researcher at Google DeepMind, announced securing a $1.1 billion investment for his startup Ineffable Intelligence. Tim Rocktäschel, a former Google DeepMind employee, is said to be raising up to $1 billion for Recursive Superintelligence. AMI Labs announced raising $1 billion in March, months after Yann LeCun announced his departure from his role as AI chief at Meta.
Over the past year, former employees from OpenAI, DeepMind, Anthropic and xAI have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for new ventures that are only months old. With capital available, these firms are actively recruiting staff from their founding companies and other major AI groups.
According to CNBC, the AI race has led tech giants to narrow their focus, causing some important research directions to be deprioritized when they do not immediately secure a competitive advantage. This, the report says, creates opportunities for smaller, more agile companies to pursue areas overlooked by larger firms.
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