Meta has agreed to buy artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Manus, a company founded in China but now headquartered in Singapore, in a deal seen as a landmark case of a US tech giant acquiring a China-linked AI firm amid geopolitical tensions. SMU Associate Professor of Finance Fu Fangjian said the Chinese government does not appear intent on restricting AI companies from expanding overseas. He added that major Chinese AI models such as DeepSeek and Qwen are open-source, indicating that China is taking a relatively open stance towards AI development.
