Beijing has extended its travel restrictions on senior AI and chip executives to their spouses and children, Bloomberg News reported, as first carried by The Next Web. Even short trips abroad now require government approval, with several families already notified, according to two sources.
The expanded rule covers founders and executives at firms Beijing views as vital to state security, building on curbs already applied at companies including Alibaba and DeepSeek. Officials plan to add more people over time, and the ministry overseeing the policy did not respond to Bloomberg’s request for comment.
The move follows Beijing’s decision to unwind Meta’s $2 billion deal for Manus, though Bloomberg’s sourcing does not tie the two directly. A Carnegie study found that China now employs more top AI researchers than the United States does, raising the cost of any policy that makes leaving harder for that talent.
For firms recruiting Chinese AI talent, the message is that Beijing is closing the exit for entire families, not just the researchers themselves.
Reported by The Next Web (citing Bloomberg News) on 28 September 2026.
