Error 0x80131018 when installing assembly to GAC on a single computer using WiX - possible causes?

Question

I have an MSI created using WiX that works perfectly on dozen's of computers, but not this one computer. On this one computer, it fails to install an assembly, ActiproSoftware.Bars.WinForms.dll, to the GAC. Trying another installer (also WiX) that also installs something to the GAC fails, same error code just for a different assembly. I've checked file hashes to make sure that the MSI files were copied over properly. I've even manually extracted the Actipro DLL above and installed it into the GAC, which worked.

Here's the error message from the msiexec log:

   MSI (s) (30:84) [14:53:56:527]: Executing op: End(Checksum=0,ProgressTotalHDWord=0,ProgressTotalLDWord=334497520)
   04/25/2022 14:53:56.729 [108080]: Assembly Install: Failing with hr=80131018 at CAssemblyCacheItem::MoveAssemblyToFinalLocation, line 846

   MSI (s) (30:84) [14:53:56:730]: Assembly Error:The module '%1' was expected to contain an assembly manifest.
   MSI (s) (30:84) [14:53:56:730]: Note: 1: 1935 2: {F912ED46-F33F-4FAE-809E-62D5C9529067} 3: 0x80131018 4: IAssemblyCacheItem 5: Commit 6: ActiproSoftware.Bars.WinForms,version="16.1.330.0",culture="neutral",publicKeyToken="C27E062D3C1A4763",processorArchitecture="MSIL" 
   04/25/2022 14:53:56.729 [108080]: Assembly Install: Failing with hr=80131018 at CAssemblyCacheItem::LegacyCommit, line 1444

   MSI (s) (30:84) [14:55:57:204]: Product: MyProduct -- Error 1935. An error occurred during the installation of assembly 'ActiproSoftware.Bars.WinForms,version="16.1.330.0",culture="neutral",publicKeyToken="C27E062D3C1A4763",processorArchitecture="MSIL"'. Please refer to Help and Support for more information. HRESULT: 0x80131018. assembly interface: IAssemblyCacheItem, function: Commit, component: {F912ED46-F33F-4FAE-809E-62D5C9529067}

   MSI (c) (18:28) [14:53:56:734]: Font created.  Charset: Req=0, Ret=0, Font: Req=MS Shell Dlg, Ret=MS Shell Dlg

   Error 1935. An error occurred during the installation of assembly 'ActiproSoftware.Bars.WinForms,version="16.1.330.0",culture="neutral",publicKeyToken="C27E062D3C1A4763",processorArchitecture="MSIL"'. Please refer to Help and Support for more information. HRESULT: 0x80131018. assembly interface: IAssemblyCacheItem, function: Commit, component: {F912ED46-F33F-4FAE-809E-62D5C9529067}

Error 0x80131018 means the assembly manifest is unreadable AFAIK, but I can extract that assembly and install it into the GAC myself, hence the manifest can't be unreadable. There's no antivirus software that could be trying to interfere, so I don't know what could be the issue.