The least surprising chapter of Manus’ story is what is happening right now

OK, so the US and China are locked in an all-out race to build the world’s most powerful AI. Beijing is pouring billions into domestic models, strengthening its power in the tech sector, and watching in horror as its best AI talent woos US companies. Yet Manus – one of China’s busiest AI innovators – quietly moved to Singapore and sold himself to Meta for $2 billion.

Did anyone think that there would be not Have you been guilty of this arrest?

As industry watchers know, Manus burst onto the scene in the spring of last year with a demo video that showed an AI agent screening job seekers, planning vacations, and analyzing a stock portfolio, and it was said to be the most successful OpenAI’s Deep Research. Within a few weeks, Benchmark – a Silicon Valley startup – led $75 million in funding at a $500 million valuation. That was surprising. (Senator John Cornyn had second thoughts, tweeting at the time, “Who thinks it’s a good idea for American investors to fund our archenemy in AI, only for the CCP to use that technology to challenge us economically and militarily? Not me.”)

By December, Manus had millions of users and was generating more than $100 million in annual revenue. Then Meta came calling, and Mark Zuckerberg, who has staked the company’s future on AI, snapped it up for $2 billion. That was surprising too.

It’s worth noting that Manus didn’t just sell himself to an American buyer; has spent the better part of the last year trying to operate outside the China route. The company moved its headquarters and core team from Beijing to Singapore, reorganized its ownership, and after the Meta deal was announced, Meta promised to cut all ties with Manus’ Chinese investors and completely shut down its operations in China. By all means, Manus was trying to establish itself as a Singaporean company.

But if that series of events raised eyebrows in Washington, you can only imagine that in Beijing, they were apoplectic.

China has a phrase for all of this: “selling young plants” — domestic AI companies that move abroad and sell themselves to foreign buyers before they are fully mature, taking their intellectual property and talent with them.

Beijing hates it too and has spent years making sure no company operates outside of its reach. Of course, we all remember that time Jack Ma gave a speech in 2020, mildly criticizing Chinese regulators, after which he disappeared from public view for months, Ant Group’s IPO was killed overnight, and Alibaba was fined $2.8 billion. China then spent the next two years dismantling its booming tech sector, wiping out hundreds of billions in market value. Chinese leaders are many things, but cunning is not one of them.

That’s why it didn’t come as a complete surprise when, on Tuesday, the Financial Times reported that Manus founders Xiao Hong and Ji Yichao were summoned to a meeting this month with China’s Development and Reform Commission and told they would not be leaving the country for the time being.

No formal charges have been filed – just an investigation into whether the Meta deal violates Beijing’s foreign investment laws.

Beijing calls it a general regulatory review.

Once upon a time, someone at Manus probably thought he would make it, and maybe he still will. But given the stakes of the AI ​​race, that was always a big gamble. Now Beijing wants answers; The founders of Manus are apparently not going anywhere until they find them.