The global debate over artificial intelligence has been dominated by an arms-race mentality focused on the technological frontier. For Europe, caught between American innovation and Asian scale – and frequently burdened by its own regulatory architecture – this approach offers a pragmatic path towards economic relevance in the AI era. China’s strategy, reinforced by its 15th Five-Year Plan and “AI+” initiatives, aims to move AI out of laboratories and directly onto factory floors and into services. The real Chinese bet is therefore not simply on creating smarter AI, but on turning AI into a widespread industrial productivity tool. Europe does not need to copy China’s political system to learn from its industrial strategy.