Meta Has the Money, the Chips and the Agent. To Give Muse a Body It Flew Its Robot Chief to Shanghai for Two Months, and Says the Parts Aren't Here
About This Episode
The Information reported on October 31 that Meta built a 106-pound prototype humanoid called Max with Shanghai's Fourier in about three months, with a second version underway since September. Meta says it is internal research with no plans to sell, and a spokesperson conceded that sourcing parts hard to obtain domestically is a reality for the whole industry. The build lands three months after the FCC banned imports of new foreign-made humanoids, a rule that lets research units in but requires 65% US-made components for anything sold.
Our Take
Meta has the money, the chips and the agent, yet the body for Muse had to be built in Shanghai in a country whose own government just banned new Chinese humanoids: the Mind crosses the Pacific as a download, the Body has to clear customs, and America has put up the wall before building the factory.
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