# China blocks Meta’s Manus acquisition as AI rivalry deepens
Event date: 2026-04-27
China’s state planner has blocked Meta’s planned purchase of the Chinese artificial intelligence startup Manus, forcing the companies to abandon a deal that had become a test case for how far Beijing will allow sensitive technology assets to move offshore.
The National Development and Reform Commission ordered the cancellation of the transaction on Monday, according to AFP via CNA. The decision lands at a moment when the United States and China are already locked in a broader struggle over frontier technologies, export controls and access to advanced chips.
Meta, the California-based company that owns Facebook, had acquired Manus in December 2025 for more than US$2 billion, according to the report, in a bid to strengthen its push into AI agents. Those tools can carry out more complex tasks than chatbots with limited human intervention. The acquisition had also become politically sensitive because Manus was seen in China as a promising domestic AI company.
The blockage underscores how quickly AI has moved from a commercial opportunity into a strategic and regulatory battleground. AFP said the intervention reflects Beijing’s determination to prevent AI talent and intellectual property from being absorbed by US entities at a time when Washington is trying to slow China’s AI progress through its own technology restrictions.
The decision may also complicate the diplomatic backdrop to a planned mid-May summit in Beijing between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Even if the company transaction itself is the immediate issue, the broader signal is that technology deals can now be judged through a national-security lens rather than a purely commercial one.
There were signs earlier that the review was tightening. In March, Manus chief executive Xiao Hong and chief scientist Ji Yichao were barred from leaving China while regulators examined the transaction, sources familiar with the matter said, according to AFP. Manus had already moved its headquarters from China to Singapore, part of a wider pattern among Chinese firms trying to reduce exposure to geopolitical risk.
Meta responded that the transaction complied with applicable law and said it anticipated an appropriate resolution to the inquiry, AFP reported. The statement suggests the company still believed the deal should have been permitted, but the Chinese regulator’s order now appears to have ended that path.
For Beijing, the message is less about one startup than about drawing a line around assets it considers strategically important. For Meta, it is another reminder that AI expansion plans can be upended by geopolitics as much as by product or price.
