little by little, it is “nationalizing” AI

The Manus case appears to have planted a seed in how China will manage its AI talent. And Beijing has given another touch of attention to another company of artificial intelligence, MiroMind, so that it does not move researchers or intellectual property outside its borders. While China does not prohibit the export of chips like the United States does, it does appear to be prohibiting the export of brains. And with this it is building, by force, its own AI ecosystem with large barricades.

The Manus thing. In January 2025, the startup Manus, born in Wuhan, relocated to Singapore and sold to Meta for 2 billion dollars, it seemed to have made the perfect move: leave China, access Western capital and complete one of the operations that has given the most talk in the field of AI. After the mess, Beijing I act by vetoing him from leaving the country to its co-founders while they investigated whether the operation had violated any export regulations. For the rest of the startups, the message has resonated deeply.

What has happened with MiroMind. According to has published The Washington Post, Chinese authorities directly warned MiroMind, a startup specializing in advanced reasoning with declared headquarters in Redwood City, California, and Singapore, not to move talent or research abroad. Much of the company’s early work had been done in China, and its chief scientist was until recently Jifeng Dai, a renowned researcher at Tsinghua University who had previously led projects at SenseTime, a partially state-owned AI software company.

According to Dai himself, he left MiroMind precisely because the company asked him to relocate outside of China, something he was not willing to accept. As of today, MiroMind does not have employees in China, although the majority of its staff is still of Chinese nationality and works in that language from Singapore.

The model that no longer works. For years, many Chinese startups have chosen to legally incorporate the company in Singapore, hire a handful of local employees, and continue operating from China. The very ‘Singapore washing’, which is how this operation is colloquially known in the sector. The Manus case has made it clear that this is no longer enough.

Matthias Hendrichs, advisor to AI companies in Singapore, explained to CNBC that for the operation to be real and not a parapet, “the entire team has to relocate, the client base has to move and the first Chinese investors generally have to exit their positions.” “Where the product is developed is more important than where the parent company is registered,” explained also to the media Yuan Cao, lawyer.

lBeijing’s strategy. What China is doing has no direct equivalent to what the United States is doing. Washington controls the export of chips and semiconductor manufacturing technology. Beijing, on the other hand, is controlling the export of talent and research. It does not prevent their companies from internationalizing (in fact, encourages them to expand globally) but it does draw a red line: you can’t take your technological DNA with you. The result is an attempt to build a self-sufficient AI ecosystem that does not bleed to the West. Whether this strengthens it through concentration or weakens it through isolation is still an open question.

Singapore in the eye of the hurricane. The city-state, which has been acting as a bridge between East and West for years, is beginning to find itself caught in the crossfire. According to collect Reuters, more and more companies choose it not to connect with both blocks, but to distance themselves from both. But this gray zone role also has its risks. Chong Ja Ian, a political scientist at the National University of Singapore, explained to the media that if Singapore continues to be perceived as a space where technological transfers occur that neither of the two large blocs wants to occur, “it could end up with restrictions imposed on it.”

And now what. Chinese startup founders face a dilemma with a growing shadow: either they build their company from day one outside China, giving up the advantages of the local ecosystem (subsidies, cheap engineers, domestic market), or they assume that Beijing can knock on the door and demand their work at any time.

“The path of Manus is one that people will no longer travel,” counted Wayne Shiong, partner at Argo Venture Partners, told CNBC. The global technological fracture deepens. Two ‘internets’, two chip supply chains, two AI ecosystems. And now, too, two talent markets that Beijing and Washington are determined to keep separate.

Cover image | Unsplash (aboodi vesakaran, Arif Riyanto)

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