Meta’s acquisition of the AI startup Manus for more than $2 billion signals a strategic shift in how major tech companies are approaching artificial intelligence, moving beyond building the smartest foundation models to owning the execution layer where AI actually completes complex tasks end-to-end. Manus, a Singapore-based company known for its general-purpose autonomous AI agent that can plan, manage tools, and complete workflows like research, coding, and analysis, exemplifies this execution-focused approach. Meta plans to keep Manus operating independently while integrating its technology into Meta AI and other products, and the deal also underscores that value in AI is increasingly tied to orchestration and execution infrastructure rather than model performance alone. For enterprises, this underscores that building internal agent orchestration systems may become as strategically important as choosing underlying models, because robust execution capabilities can make AI more reliable and useful in real-world business workflows.
