[Digital Today AI Reporter] China has ordered major AI companies—including ByteDance, Moonshot AI and StepFun—not to accept U.S. capital without government approval.
On the 25th (local time), the blockchain outlet BeInCrypto reported that China’s National Development and Reform Commission issued the directive in recent weeks. It instructed ByteDance to block secondary trading of unlisted shares originating in the U.S. unless the Chinese government approves. Given ByteDance’s shareholder structure, which includes significant U.S. institutional ownership, the related liquidity will now fall under Beijing’s oversight.
Moonshot AI, which is weighing a Hong Kong listing, received the same directive: it cannot accept U.S. capital in funding rounds or other transactions without approval, a restriction that could complicate its pre-IPO fundraising plans. Tencent-backed StepFun is subject to identical limits. StepFun focuses on multimodal and generative AI and is part of the cohort of AI firms Beijing is strategically cultivating.
The move follows Meta Platforms’ roughly $2 billion (approximately 2.67 trillion KRW) acquisition of Manus, a Singapore startup with deep Chinese engineering ties. Chinese authorities subsequently restricted the travel of Manus’s co-founders and opened a review to determine whether the deal violated technology export controls.
BeInCrypto said the separation of AI capital between the U.S. and China could deepen, and that Beijing may formalize the directive into official regulations within weeks.
