China on Monday blocked Meta’s acquisition of AI startup Manus, a Singapore-based company that was originally founded in China. China’s National Development and Reform Commission said in a brief statement that it had asked that “the parties involved” withdraw the acquisition transaction, and said it made the decision in accordance with laws and regulations, according to CNBC.
Manus announced it was joining Meta in December 2025. “Joining Meta allows us to build on a stronger, more sustainable foundation without changing how Manus works or how decisions are made,” Xiao Hong, CEO of Manus, said at the time. “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.”
While financial details concerning the acquisition weren’t publicly disclosed, sources told Reuters at the time that it was valued at between $2 billion and $3 billion.
The move to block the acquisition comes at a time when AI development has become a battleground between U.S. and Chinese firms. The U.S. has previously placed trade restrictions on Nvidia GPU exports to China, though it relaxed those restrictions earlier this year. In response, Chinese companies have ramped up efforts on natively developed AI chips and hardware.
Last week, Chinese AI company DeepSeek released its latest model, promising comparable performance to U.S. models at a lower cost. The model was DeepSeek’s first to be specifically tuned on new AI chips from Huawei, a Chinese company that produces a wide variety of tech ranging from smartphones to networking equipment and vehicle components.
