Overview
- China’s National Development and Reform Commission, which issued its order Monday, prohibited foreign investment in Manus and told the parties to withdraw the transaction.
- Unwinding will be hard because Manus staff and systems have been folded into Meta, investors such as Tencent, ZhenFund, and Hongshan have been paid, and teams have moved into Meta’s Singapore offices.
- Meta said the deal complied with the law and that it expects an appropriate resolution, after Beijing’s review in March reportedly barred Manus co‑founders Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao from leaving China.
- Manus is a Chinese‑founded startup that relocated to Singapore and builds general‑purpose AI agents that can carry out multi‑step tasks like coding apps, market research, and budget prep with little human input.
- The decision fits a broader clampdown that includes guidance to AI firms to reject U.S. funding unless approved, and it deepens U.S.–China tech decoupling weeks before a planned Trump–Xi summit in Beijing.