Meta’s $2 Billion Manus Acquisition: A Regulatory Tug-of-War
I’m not surprised that Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of AI assistant platform Manus has hit a regulatory snag, but I didn’t expect it to be China that’s causing the hold up. Despite some concerns over Benchmark’s funding in Manus, it seems that US regulators are on board with the deal. But Chinese regulators are giving it a much closer look, and it’s not hard to see why.
According to reports, Chinese regulators are reviewing whether the deal violates technology export controls. Specifically, they’re analyzing whether Manus needed an export license when it relocated its core team from China to Singapore. This practice has been nicknamed “Singapore washing,” and it’s not hard to see why. The implications are huge, and it’s not just about the deal itself.
If this deal goes through without any issues, it could create a “new path” for young AI startups in China, according to Winston Ma, a professor at New York University School of Law and partner at Dragon Capital. This could lead to more Chinese startups following suit and relocating to avoid oversight. That’s a big deal, and it’s not just about the money.
China has a history of using export control mechanisms to intervene in deals that it doesn’t like. Remember Trump’s attempted TikTok ban? Yeah, China used those same mechanisms to block that deal. And it’s not hard to see why. The Chinese government sees AI as a strategic technology, and it’s not willing to let it fall into the wrong hands.
Meanwhile, some US analysts are hailing the acquisition as a win for Washington’s investment restrictions. They’re arguing that it shows Chinese AI technology is defecting to the American ecosystem. “The US AI ecosystem is currently more attractive,” one expert told the FT. I’m not sure I agree, but it’s an interesting point.
The implications of this deal are huge. If it closes without any issues, it could create a new path for young AI startups in China. But if it’s blocked, it could be a major setback for the Chinese AI industry. And who knows, it could even have implications for the global AI market.
It’s unclear how this will impact Meta’s plans to integrate Manus’s AI agent software into its products, but one thing is clear – this $2 billion deal has gotten a lot more complicated than anyone expected.
