China Blocks Meta's $2B Manus Acquisition

China has blocked Meta's $2 billion acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus, citing national security concerns. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top planning agency, issued a statement prohibiting foreign investment in the deal and requiring all parties to withdraw from the transaction.

The decision comes less than a month before U.S. President Donald Trump is set to visit Beijing to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Analysts suggest that this move indicates China's tightening scrutiny of the AI industry amid intensifying geopolitical rivalry with the U.S. over technology, as reported by NPR and Reuters. The NDRC formally asked Meta to unwind the acquisition on April 27 after months of official scrutiny.

The acquisition was announced in December 2025, with Meta stating that Manus' agents would boost its own AI offerings across its platforms. Manus, which has Chinese roots but is based in Singapore, develops 'general-purpose' AI agents capable of performing multistep complex work autonomously. The company's website indicated that the deal had already been completed.

Manus burst onto the scene in March 2025 with its “general AI agent,” designed to help users with tasks such as searching real estate sites for a new home or booking airline tickets and hotels for an international trip. The Manus AI agent is an 'agentic wrapper' that enables an underlying AI model—Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet—to take actions to carry out user requests, according to Ars Technica. But Manus actually incorporates multiple AI agents to perform and verify tasks, including a planner agent that assigns tasks and an executor agent that can browse and interact with websites, create spreadsheets, use various software tools, and even code new applications.

Meta responded to the NDRC's decision by stating that the transaction complied fully with applicable law and anticipated an appropriate resolution to the inquiry. Analysts have noted that this move could deter similar acquisition plans by U.S. tech giants in the future, mirroring U.S. export controls and investment curbs on China.

The NDRC's decision highlights China's commitment to stopping U.S. firms from acquiring Chinese AI talent and intellectual property. The Manus order is part of a broader pattern of China blocking or challenging cross-border transactions involving sensitive technologies, as noted by Reuters. This move sends a stark warning to Chinese startups seeking to relocate operations to Singapore to access foreign capital.