Meta Platforms is plowing ahead in the AI arms race, snapping up fast-rising startup Manus for more than $2 billion in a lightning deal that delivers a revenue-generating AI agent business — and draws fresh scrutiny over the new acquisition’s Chinese roots.
The sale, which was reported by The Wall Street Journal, caps a meteoric eight-month run for the Singapore-based startup.
It was generating more than $125 million in annual revenue and was valued at $500 million in its last funding round before Meta swooped in with an all-cash buyout of existing investors.
Manus was founded by Chinese entrepreneurs and originally operated out of Beijing under the startup Butterfly Effect before relocating.
The company’s origins set off alarm bells in Washington amid intensifying US-China tech tensions.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, previously blasted American investors for backing the company, warning against funneling US capital into AI firms with Chinese roots during a period of strategic rivalry with Beijing.
Meta has moved to neutralize those concerns, insisting the acquisition leaves no residual China exposure.
The company told The Post all Chinese investors were fully bought out, Manus will shut down its China-facing products and operations, and employees based in China will be relocated or cut off from sensitive systems.
The company has also said Manus staff joining Meta will not have access to customer data and that its AI models will remain geo-fenced — steps aimed at heading off a potential national security review and keeping regulators at bay.
“Meta’s acquisition of Manus AI will enable us to provide the most advanced technology to our users with safeguards in place to eliminate areas of potential risk,” a Meta spokesperson told The Post.
“There will be no continuing Chinese ownership interests in Manus AI following the transaction, and Manus AI will discontinue its services and operations in China.”
The scrutiny comes as Meta has been pouring tens of billions of dollars into AI infrastructure and talent, making the Manus deal both a strategic bet on autonomous AI agents and a potential political test case for how far US tech giants can go when foreign roots collide with national security sensitivities.
Meta has said Manus will continue operating its subscription service as a standalone product after the acquisition, even as its engineers are folded into Meta’s broader AI teams to accelerate work on autonomous agents across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and the company’s Meta AI assistant.
The deal was struck in roughly 10 days, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News, as Meta raced to lock up a fast-growing AI agent business that executives believe can immediately bolster both its product roadmap and revenue base.
The Manus acquisition is just one piece of a far broader blitz in the AI space.
The company is forecasting $70 billion to $72 billion in capital spending in 2025 alone, with internal expectations that outlays will top $100 billion in 2026.
Zuckerberg has pledged more than $600 billion in US investment by 2028.
In recent months, Meta has dangled compensation packages worth up to $300 million over four years — and in some cases as much as $1.5 billion over six years — to pry elite AI talent away from OpenAI, Google and Apple in an escalating Silicon Valley arms race.
The Post has sought comment from Manus.
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