Chinese authorities are said to be reviewing whether Meta Platforms' acquisition of the artificial intelligence (AI) startup "Manus" violates technology export controls. It remains unclear whether the review will lead to an actual investigation, but depending on the determination, it could affect the entire transaction.
According to foreign media reports including the Financial Times (FT) on the 6th local time, officials at China's Ministry of Commerce are examining whether the process by which Manus's personnel and technology were transferred to Singapore and the subsequent acquisition by Meta fall under China's export licensing requirements. The review is still in its early stages and may not shift into a formal investigation.
However, if it is determined to be subject to an export license, Chinese authorities would have grounds to intervene in the transaction, and in an extreme scenario the acquisition itself could be halted, some observers said. China intervened in a similar way when the U.S. government pushed for the forced sale of TikTok in the past.
Some say the likelihood is low that Manus would be classified as a core strategic technology in China, which could limit the need for authorities to intervene. However, other sources said authorities are closely watching the case because it could spur a "de-China" movement among Chinese startups.
Manus is an AI agent model launched in China in March last year that drew attention for carrying out tasks by setting its own plans without human intervention. After DeepSeek, which drew attention as a low-cost, high-performance AI, it was also assessed as one of China's next-generation innovation corporations.
However, as the U.S.-China rivalry over AI technological supremacy intensified, it struggled to attract investment, and with U.S. semiconductor export controls to China constraining access to computing resources, it halted development in China in July last year and transferred its headquarters to Singapore. During this process, some saw it as "nationality laundering" to evade sanctions.
Manus was later acquired by Meta, becoming a rare case of a China-based startup being folded into a U.S. big tech company. Meta officially announced the acquisition of Manus on the 29th of last month, but did not disclose the specific transaction amount. Foreign media, however, estimated the deal at about $2 billion.