China’s state planner has officially prohibited Meta Platforms' (NASDAQ:META) acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Manus, ordering the immediate cancellation of the transaction.
The decision, announced Monday by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), marks a significant escalation in Beijing’s efforts to retain domestic AI talent and intellectual property amid a deepening technological schism with the United States.
The intervention targets a deal valued at over $2 billion, originally struck in December by the California-based parent of Facebook to bolster its development of AI agents—autonomous tools designed to execute complex tasks with minimal human oversight.
The NDRC’s mandate follows months of regulatory pressure, including exit bans imposed in March on Manus CEO Xiao Hong and Chief Scientist Ji Yichao.
Manus gained international prominence last year after releasing what was described as the world’s first general AI agent, drawing comparisons to Chinese AI heavyweight DeepSeek.
Despite the company’s recent efforts to mitigate geopolitical risk by relocating its headquarters to Singapore, the NDRC’s ruling clarifies that such moves do not exempt domestic-born entities from Beijing's oversight.
Market analysts suggest the block signals a strategic shift in regulatory focus, moving beyond semiconductor hardware to the software and talent that define the AI frontier.
The timing of the cancellation adds further friction to the bilateral relationship ahead of a planned mid-May summit in Beijing between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
For Meta, the collapse of the deal represents a setback in its global race to dominate the AI agent market, while for Beijing, the move asserts a firm "national security" boundary around its most promising technological assets.