Meta’s $2 Billion Acquisition of Manus Signals Next Phase in AI Competition

Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to acquire Singapore-based AI startup Manus in a deal valued at more than $2 billion, marking one of the company’s largest AI-related acquisitions and a clear signal of how aggressively Big Tech is pursuing advanced artificial intelligence. Manus, originally founded by Chinese entrepreneurs and later relocated to Singapore, developed one of the industry’s first general-purpose autonomous AI agents—systems designed to execute complex, multi-step tasks such as research, coding, data analysis, and creative work without continuous human prompting. The acquisition comes after Manus achieved remarkable early traction, including over $100 million in annual recurring revenue and millions of users, and represents a major strategic infusion into Meta’s AI roadmap. 

Unlike conventional chatbots that merely generate conversational responses, Manus’s technology focuses on practical task execution and workflow automation. Built with a multi-agent architecture that decomposes complex goals into executable steps, Manus agents can browse the web, manipulate datasets, write and debug code, and produce deliverables such as reports and visualizations—capabilities that place it ahead of many current AI assistants in real-world utility. Meta plans to integrate this agent technology into its existing AI ecosystem, including Meta AI across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, while continuing to operate Manus’s subscription service under its existing brand and retaining the startup’s Singapore base. 

The acquisition also illustrates the geopolitical and competitive dynamics in AI development. Manus’s Chinese origins had attracted scrutiny amid broader U.S.–China technology tensions; Meta confirmed that all Chinese ownership interests will be severed and operations in China will cease as part of the transaction to address regulatory and national-security concerns. The deal adds a revenue-generating, operational AI product to Meta’s portfolio at a time when the company has been heavily investing in AI infrastructure—following other major moves such as its large stake in Scale AI—and is seeking to narrow the gap with rivals like OpenAI and Google in delivering practical AI solutions at scale.