The National Development and Reform Commission of China has blocked Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of the agentic AI startup Manus. The move comes after the White House accused China of stealing intellectual property from U.S. AI labs on an industrial scale.
Manus is an AI startup focused on building agents to automate complex tasks. Although the company is based in Singapore, it was founded by Chinese individuals. Meta had been pursuing the acquisition as part of its strategy to expand its portfolio of smaller AI companies. In December last year, Meta announced its acquisition of Manus to strengthen agentic AI capabilities.
"We"re excited about what the future holds with Meta and Manus working together and we will continue to iterate the product and serve users that have defined Manus from the beginning,” said Xiao Hong, one of Manus founders, in a blog post.
However, the transaction has now reached a dead end after China’s National Development and Reform Commission issued a statement saying the deal must be canceled due to regulatory requirements.
Despite relocating to Singapore, Manus has not been able to distance itself from the growing tensions between the United States and China. In recent years, some Chinese startups have moved to Singapore in hopes of avoiding geopolitical friction. However, they still need to comply with Chinese laws, which can limit their transactions with American companies.
Chinese authorities have become increasingly sensitive to foreign investment in the country’s AI sector and have begun scrutinizing deals involving any foreign entities or individuals.
On the other hand, the United States has similar concerns about American tech firms supporting Chinese AI startups and the potential leakage of intellectual property to China. Last week, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, released a memo accusing China of engaging in industrial-scale theft of AI technology from U.S. AI labs.
Via: CNBC