Meta to Acquire Chinese AI Startup Manus to Strengthen Advanced AI Capabilities

As the digital powerhouse speeds up attempts to incorporate cutting-edge AI throughout its platforms, Meta announced on December 29 that it will buy Chinese-founded artificial intelligence firm Manus. The Singapore-based company is valued at between $2 billion and $3 billion, according to a report by Reuters, although the financial details of the purchase were not disclosed.

Earlier this year, Manus, which was once heralded as China's DeepSeek, became viral on X after unveiling what it claimed to be the world's first general AI agent. This agent is able to make judgements and carry out activities on its own with significantly less prompting than AI chatbots. Since then, Beijing has expressed interest in helping Manus, which asserts that its AI agent performs better than OpenAI's DeepResearch. Additionally, the business and Alibaba have a strategic partnership to work together on their AI models.

Meta Ramping Up its AI Capabilities

According to the company, Meta will run and market the Manus service and incorporate it into its commercial and consumer goods, such as Meta AI. As they negotiate intense industry competition, tech giants like Meta have been increasing their AI investments through talent hiring and strategic acquisitions. The Facebook owner invested in Scale AI earlier this year, bringing in its 28-year-old CEO, Alexandr Wang, and valuing the data-labelling business at $29 billion.

According to media reports, Manus, which is supported by its parent company Beijing Butterfly Effect Technology, raised $75 million this year at a valuation of about $500 million. The funding round was led by American venture capital firm Benchmark. It is one of many Chinese companies that have set up shop in Singapore in recent years, hoping that relocating to the trade-orientated city-state would lessen the likelihood that Sino-American geopolitical tensions would interfere with their business operations.

Meta Faces EU Antitrust Investigation

In response to growing criticism of Big Tech's use of generative AI, the European Commission announced on 4 December that it has launched a new antitrust probe against Meta Platforms and started a new tab over the development of AI features in WhatsApp. As the union looks to strike a balance between supporting the industry and attempting to limit its growing power, the measure, which was first reported by Reuters and the Financial Times, represents the most recent action taken by European regulators against major technology companies.

Following the California-based company's integration of its Meta AI system into the messaging service earlier this year, the European Commission launched an investigation into Meta's new policy regulating AI vendors' access to WhatsApp. The assertions are unfounded, according to a WhatsApp representative, who also stated that the rise of chatbots on its platforms strains company’s systems in ways that they were not intended to handle.

He added further that even still, the AI space is highly competitive, and people have access to the services of their choice in any number of ways, including app stores, search engines, email services, partnership integrations, and operating systems.