Synopsis
Following Meta's Manus acquisition fallout, MiroMind founder Chen Tianqiao is implementing strict firewalls between his Chinese and US businesses. This move, driven by regulatory scrutiny, aims to prevent cross-border data and personnel movement, creating a necessary compromise in the current geopolitical climate.Listen to this article in summarized format
MiroMind — founded by Chen Tianqiao, a pioneer of China’s online gaming industry — has implemented protocols to prohibit the cross-border sharing of information or code while minimizing the movement of personnel, data and assets. The decision followed queries from regulators after Meta’s $2 billion Manus buyout, the billionaire told Bloomberg News.
Beijing on Monday ordered the Manus deal unwound after a months-long probe into potentially illegal tech transfers. More broadly, agencies have moved to restrict US investment into some of the country’s highest-profile AI firms without prior approval. Officials had contacted Chen’s team in March, he said, cautioning against transferring technology out of the country unilaterally. Chen said the issue was resolved after outlining the envisioned internal firewalls, under which each region’s business is handled locally.
“Previously, I believed we could bring together Chinese and global talent to contribute to humanity’s future. But after the Manus incident, we have had to fully implement firewalls,” Chen said in an online interview from his California home last week. “Admittedly, this approach can feel like ‘cutting off our own limbs,’ but under the current regulatory environment, it is a necessary compromise.”
Chen’s remarks — made to Bloomberg News before Beijing announced it was blocking the Meta acquisition — represent the first major acknowledgment from a high-profile industry figure of the aftershocks from the post-Manus scrutiny. The billionaire said on Tuesday he remains intent on his overhaul and hadn’t changed his stance since Monday’s announcement.
Manus’s founders got their start in China but relocated their headquarters and key staff to Singapore in 2025. It wasn’t clear when the deal was announced in December whether Beijing would exert its authority on a transaction that technically took place beyond its borders.
Beyond the Manus probe, the industry faces heightened scrutiny over offshore listings and American capital investment. The pressure risks driving more outward-looking founders to abandon their domestic operations as they chase funding and users in the US and other Western markets.
MiroMind’s approach may now offer a formula for domestic startups hoping to set up global businesses and avoid the sort of regulatory uncertainty that’s engulfed Manus — a clean separation of a startup’s Chinese and overseas operations that Chen hopes will allow his company to raise capital and manage an international business.
Representatives for the National Development and Reform Commission and the Commerce Ministry, which are involved in the Manus investigation, didn’t respond to faxed requests for comment.
Chen has invested $100 million — part of a $2 billion total commitment from his Shanda Group into so-called “discoverable AI” — into MiroMind, which employs more than 60 scientists across locations including Singapore, Tokyo, and Seattle.
MiroMind will begin its first external fundraising in the second half of this year as it nears meaningful revenue through deals with asset managers and energy infrastructure providers.
The startup attracted scrutiny of its own after the departure of key scientist Dai Jifeng, a Tsinghua University professor who formerly worked at SenseTime Group Inc. Dai joined forces with Chen in 2025 through an affiliated company.
Dai told the Washington Post MiroMind tried to force him to relocate overseas, triggering his departure. The dispute drew comparisons online to Manus, which decamped to Singapore last summer before the Meta buyout. Chen denied Dai’s account, while Dai declined to comment to Bloomberg News queries.
At the heart of the post-Manus debate is how the startup restructured to enable a sale to a foreign company prior to any regulatory review in Beijing.
While Manus is a Singapore-incorporated firm, its founders originally developed the tech while living in China. In July, Manus relocated its China-based staff to Singapore, cutting dozens of roles in the process.
Chen himself was one of the biggest beneficiaries of US capital — an increasingly difficult path for today’s entrepreneurs.
Riding an online gaming boom, Shanda raised $152 million in a Nasdaq listing in 2004, making Chen a billionaire at 30. After failing to fend off rivals such as Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Chen took his company private in 2012 and repositioned it as an investment group. He has been living overseas for 16 years, first in Singapore and then California.
“The international environment is extremely complex,” Chen said. “Under current geopolitical conditions, companies effectively have no choice but to pick a side.”
