By: JIANLI YANG – Jan 9, 2026
Meta’s acquisition of Manus highlights how the United States can absorb global AI talent while tightening national security controls in an intensifying US–China tech rivalry.
In late December 2025, Meta Platforms officially acquired Manus, a Singapore-based AI startup with deep Chinese roots, in a deal valued between $2 billion and $3 billion. It was Meta’s third-largest acquisition ever, trailing only its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Scale AI. On paper, the deal looked like another bold Silicon Valley wager on the future of artificial intelligence (AI). In reality, it has become a prism through which the next phase of the US–China AI race, global talent flows, and national security anxieties are refracted.
At its core, the acquisition signals a shift in AI’s center of gravity—from chatbots that talk to agents that act. Manus specializes in “AI agents” capable of autonomously executing complex tasks: booking travel, coordinating workflows, managing enterprise operations, and interacting with digital environments with minimal human supervision. This is the frontier Meta believes will define the next era of “superintelligence.”
In July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in an open letter: “Superintelligence will usher in a new era of personal empowerment—giving people greater agency to shape the world they want to build.” Acquiring Manus is a concrete step toward that vision, and a clear signal that Meta intends to… [Continue Reading]
Source: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/techland/how-metas-acquisition-of-manus-shows-a-new-national-security-formula