The Federal Communications Commission’s decision to restrict new Chinese-made humanoid and advanced mobile robots is one of the most significant industrial policy decisions the United States has taken in years, reflecting robotics as a strategic capability for manufacturing, economic competitiveness and national security. The decision was right, but protection alone will not make America the world’s robotics leader. Success depends on who can manufacture, deploy and scale innovations most effectively. China’s commercial shipbuilding industry has more than 230 times the production capacity of the United States, and it operates more than two million industrial robots across its factories, around five times the American total. Public debate around artificial intelligence has focused on software, obscuring AI’s transformation of the physical economy. At GrayMatter Robotics, this is described as Factory SuperIntelligence: manufacturing environments where AI continuously perceives, learns and adapts in real time. AI-powered robotics can inspect, grind, sand, coat, assemble and move materials in environments that have resisted automation, perceiving and adapting instead of following fixed instructions. Across aerospace, defense, shipbuilding and advanced manufacturing, the greatest constraint on growth is no longer demand.