China’s industrial profits grew 4.2% in August from a year earlier, official data showed Monday. Cumulative profit growth for the year has now slowed for a fourth straight month.

That cumulative pace peaked at 24.7% through April and has eased to 15.7% through August. Meanwhile, an AI-driven profit boom is lifting rival economies far faster.

The AI Boom China Missed

South Korea’s audited companies posted a record operating margin of 16.9% in the second quarter. That is up nearly 12 percentage points from a year earlier.

Manufacturing margins alone leaped almost fivefold, to 24.0%, driven by chipmakers riding the artificial intelligence memory wave.

Japan told a similar story. Corporate profits jumped 24.6% year-on-year in the second quarter, beating estimates comfortably.

Across the Pacific, US manufacturers saw after-tax profits climb to $370.1 billion in the second quarter. That is up from $225.8 billion a year earlier.

By contrast, China’s 4.2% barely registers as growth.

Europe Is the Exception

However, one major economy is struggling harder than Beijing. Eurozone industrial production fell 1.2% year-on-year in January and was flat by July.

The Eurozone’s manufacturing gauge hit a 44-month high in February, led by a German rebound. Germany’s own index returned to expansion for the first time in more than three years.

China’s factories are slowing down. Europe’s are barely moving at all.

What It Means

The split exposes a widening fault line in the global economy. AI hardware is minting profits in Seoul, Tokyo and Washington.

Beijing sits stuck in the middle. Brussels sits further behind.