China expands travel restrictions for top AI talent at private firms

China is no longer just building an AI powerhouse. It’s making sure the people behind it can’t leave.

Beijing has expanded travel restrictions targeting senior AI personnel at private-sector companies, deploying a mix of exit bans, passport confiscations, and investment controls aimed at preventing the outflow of expertise and intellectual property as the US-China technology rivalry intensifies.

Passport surrenders and exit bans

The pattern started becoming visible in March 2025, when DeepSeek imposed passport surrenders on select R&D staff. The stated rationale: protecting commercial and state secrets.

By March 2026, the government’s hand became far more explicit. Manus, an AI startup, saw co-founder Xiao Hong and chief scientist Ji Yichao barred from leaving the country entirely. The restrictions came during regulatory scrutiny of a $2B acquisition by Meta.

Chinese exit bans can last for years without formal charges ever being filed. The practice has been increasingly applied in tech-related cases since at least 2018, but the current wave marks a significant escalation in both scope and specificity. These aren’t broad travel advisories. They’re targeted, individual restrictions on named executives and researchers.

Earlier guidance from Chinese authorities in 2025 had already warned top AI researchers and entrepreneurs against traveling to the US specifically.

Capital controls meet talent controls

In April 2026, the National Development and Reform Commission issued directives prohibiting multiple AI firms from accepting US investment without prior government approval. The companies named in those directives included Moonshot AI and StepFun.

The decoupling accelerates

For years, the US-China tech decoupling was primarily a story about chips. Export controls on advanced semiconductors, restrictions on ASML lithography equipment, entity lists targeting Huawei. China’s moves represent the mirror image of that strategy. Where the US focused on restricting what technology goes into China, Beijing is now focused on restricting what human capital comes out.

DeepSeek’s breakthrough models demonstrated that China’s AI capabilities had advanced further than many Western observers expected. That success made Chinese AI talent more valuable, both to domestic firms and to international competitors. Beijing’s calculation appears to be that the risk of brain drain now outweighs the benefits of international collaboration.

What this means for investors

The Manus-Meta situation is instructive: a $2B acquisition got tangled in talent restrictions that neither party fully anticipated. For companies like Moonshot AI and StepFun, the investment approval requirements add friction to fundraising at exactly the moment these firms need capital to compete.