Foreign Acquisition of Manus Blocked by China's NDRC

(Beijing, April 27, Central News Agency reporter Lu Jia-rong) According to the website of China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the office of the working mechanism for foreign investment security review in China today announced that it has made a decision to prohibit foreign investment in the acquisition of Manus, "in accordance with laws and regulations," and demanded that the parties concerned revoke the acquisition transaction.

Facebook's parent company Meta announced last year its plan to acquire the Chinese-backed AI startup Manus for over US$2 billion (approximately NT$62.9 billion), which triggered Beijing's investigation into foreign investment in Chinese companies and technology exports.

He Yadong, spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce, stated in early April that the government supports enterprises in conducting cross-border operations and technological cooperation as needed, but related actions must comply with laws and regulations.

The New York Times previously reported that Manus was founded by Chinese engineers, initially had a parent company in China, and later moved its headquarters to Singapore. The company quickly gained attention in Silicon Valley for launching AI applications that can complete complex tasks without human intervention, and was considered a promising AI startup team. (Editor: Chiu Kuo-chiang) 1150427

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