Chips are the backbone of driving industrial and manufacturing automation within BRI projects. Chip-decoupling is one of the strategies the US has adopted to contain the rise of China as the chip industry is the critical component for China’s rise as a global technological and economic power. China’s heavy reliance on imported chips, particularly from the United States (US), has been identified as a major vulnerability for the country’s long-term economic and national security goals. The US is leveraging its technological dominance of chokepoints in the supply chain of semiconductors by choking off China’s access to US-designed software and manufacturing equipment – areas where US technology is critical and irreplaceable. Furthermore, efforts have been made to compel other chip-producing states to follow the chip-decoupling policies of the US against China. This paper aims to highlight the implications of the US’s Chip-Decoupling Strategy on China’s ability to achieve its BRI ambitions. The paper revolves around the question of how the US’s chip-decoupling is affecting China’s capability to accomplish its BRI ambitions. Chinese dependence on other states for advanced semiconductor chips is impeding the quest for the successful development and implementation of the BRI project.
