Meta acquires Manus: Why buy, why sell?

Written by: Zhang Feng

By the end of 2025, Meta announced the acquisition of Chinese AI company Manus, sparking widespread attention in the global tech community. This deal not only involves the integration of cutting-edge technologies in affective computing and brain-computer interfaces but also reflects multiple themes such as AI technology competition, ecosystem construction, and corporate strategic choices.

一、Manus Growth Logic and Barrier Building

Manus has rapidly risen over the past few years through innovative integration of affective computing and brain-computer interfaces, becoming a representative technology-driven enterprise in China’s AI field.

Business Integration and Closed-Loop Ecosystem. Centered on multimodal affective computing, Manus has built a three-layer architecture of “core technology – intermediate products – top-level applications.” Its original “Neuro-Symbolic Artificial Intelligence” framework has achieved industry-leading accuracy in emotion recognition. According to publicly available information, Manus integrates multi-dimensional biological signals such as EEG and skin conductance to establish a commercial emotion database covering both Eastern and Western populations, laying the foundation for cross-cultural emotional interaction.

At the product level, Manus has developed capabilities ranging from development tools and integrable hardware to enterprise cloud platforms, forming a matrix layout. Notably, in vertical scenarios like healthcare, the technology has achieved breakthroughs in high-value application deployment.

Three-tier Profit Model. The company has established a progressive profit system based on subscription services, data licensing and industry services, and customized solutions. Hardware and subscription services contribute the main revenue, while data services and technology licensing are gradually expanding, and industry solutions demonstrate deep scene capabilities. This model ensures short-term cash flow and leaves room for long-term growth.

Differentiated Moat. Manus’s competitive advantage mainly lies in its unique technical architecture, innovative parallel processing capabilities, integration and analysis of multimodal data, and adaptability in edge scenarios.

二、Why is Meta Buying? Strategic Complementation and Ecosystem Breakthrough

Meta’s acquisition aims to enhance its core advantages in the metaverse by integrating Manus’s affective interaction capabilities, addressing multiple current challenges.

Building the “Affective Operating System” for the Metaverse. Meta regards emotion as a critical missing component of immersive metaverse experiences. Manus’s emotion recognition and brain-computer interface technologies can enable virtual avatars to express emotions, facilitate environmental emotional interactions, and optimize content recommendation mechanisms, thereby increasing user retention and engagement. Additionally, emotional data may become a new anchor point for Meta to reconstruct its advertising business in the “post-cookie era.”

Breaking Through Growth and Competition Dilemmas. Meta faces multiple pressures, including declining activity on its core social platforms, unbalanced investments in the metaverse, and lagging AI commercialization. Acquiring Manus not only brings cutting-edge interaction technologies but also provides a potential springboard into the Chinese market and a key differentiator in competing with rivals like Apple, ByteDance, and Tencent.

Countering Tech Giants’ Ecosystem Competition. In the face of Apple’s Vision Pro’s deep focus on productivity scenarios, TikTok’s advantages in content recommendation, and Tencent’s ecosystem layout around the metaverse, Meta’s acquisition allows it to directly enter the affective interaction track, potentially gaining an early advantage in establishing the next-generation human-computer interaction standards.

三、Why is Manus Selling? Rational Decision-Making and Resource Reorganization

Manus moved its headquarters abroad early on and gradually isolated its Chinese users technologically, leading some to speculate that they have been aiming for acquisition by US giants since then—though this remains just a hypothesis. Despite rapid growth, Manus’s management is aware of the ceiling and risks facing the company and chose to integrate into Meta at a high valuation.

Structural Risks Behind Growth. The consumer-grade brain-computer interface market is slowing, medical business growth is constrained by healthcare policies and pricing mechanisms, and data compliance costs are rising. These factors collectively restrict Manus’s independent expansion in terms of scale and speed.

Inherent Limitations Hindering Breakthroughs. Dependence on specific chip processes in the supply chain poses potential geopolitical risks; high competition for talent from domestic internet giants affects R&D continuity; overseas expansion faces hurdles such as data compliance and market trust.

Leveraging Meta for Leapfrog Development. By joining Meta, Manus can access nearly unlimited R&D investment, global distribution channels, a more stable supply chain environment, and organizational independence, providing unprecedented support for continuous technological iteration and global deployment.

四、Reconstruction of Product, Investment, and Regulatory Framework

This deal is expected to have multi-layered, long-term impacts on technological development, investment logic, and regulatory frameworks.

Evolution of Products and Human-Computer Interaction. Affective sensing capabilities are likely to become standard in smart devices, and the reduction in brain-computer interface hardware costs will accelerate consumer adoption. New digital services in mental health and related fields may emerge, with “emotional intelligence” potentially redefining human-computer interaction paradigms.

Changes in Investment Logic and Valuation Systems. Companies with integrated AI capabilities will become more attractive to capital, while pure algorithm firms may face valuation pressures. Geopolitical factors will further influence investment decisions, with mergers and acquisitions replacing IPOs as the preferred exit route for many AI startups.

New Challenges in Regulation and Ethics. Issues such as cross-border data flow, ethical use of emotional data, and “neural rights” related to brain-computer interfaces will accelerate the development of global regulatory frameworks. This deal may also prompt countries to adjust regulations on cross-border acquisitions of core technologies, balancing openness and security. Antitrust reviews may extend to assessments of “future market dominance.”

五、AI Industry Ecosystem Integration and Paradigm Shift

This acquisition is not only a convergence of two companies’ destinies but also a microcosm of the evolving industrial logic and global governance in the AI era. Meta’s acquisition of Manus may mark a new phase in AI competition centered on ecosystem integration. For Meta, it is a strategic move to fill key gaps in the metaverse and regain technological initiative; for Manus, it is a rational choice to realize technological ambitions by leveraging global resources under real-world constraints. This deal also signals a more fragmented future: tech giants building full-stack capabilities through acquisitions to create ecosystem moats; startups needing to establish deep barriers in niche areas. Regulators will need to seek a new balance between fostering innovation and managing risks.