China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said on Monday it had blocked Mehta’s $2 billion acquisition of Manus, an agent AI startup founded by Chinese engineers who moved to Singapore before Mark Zuckerberg took over late last year.
The move marks one of China’s most significant interventions into cross-border trade, extending far beyond US-China tensions and into the broader AI industry. For Meta, this could be a serious blow to its ambitions in the fast-moving field of AI agents.
Without offering any explanation, China’s NDRC ordered both parties to cancel the deal entirely.
“The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has decided to prohibit foreign investment in the Manus project in accordance with laws and regulations and has requested the parties involved to withdraw the acquisition transaction,” it said.
But the situation is not simple. As of March, about 100 Manus employees had already moved into Meta’s Singapore office, with the founders taking on leadership roles. CEO Xiao Hong will now report directly to Meta COO Javier Olivan. It is reported that CEO Manus Hong and senior researcher Ji Ichao have been banned from leaving the country and cannot leave mainland China.
“This transaction was fully compliant with applicable laws. We look forward to an appropriate resolution of our inquiries,” a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch.
Founded in 2022 by Hong, Ji, and Tao Zhang, Manus moved its headquarters from China to Singapore around mid-2025. Just a few months later, the meta arrived. The company announced the acquisition of Manus in December 2025 for approximately $2 billion to $3 billion and plans to integrate its agent technology directly into Meta AI.
According to Nikkei Asia, Meta has agreed to acquire Singapore-based AI startup Manus. The deal requires a complete departure from Chinese ownership and operations. However, the company’s origins date back to China. Manus’ founders previously founded its parent company, Butterfly Effect, in Beijing in 2022 before relocating to Singapore. This background has drawn scrutiny in Washington, where Sen. John Cornyn has already raised concerns about Benchmark’s investments in the company and questioned whether U.S. capital should be flowing into companies with ties to China, TechCrunch noted, citing Cornyn’s post on X.
Manus did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.
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