Decoupling China through Chip Minilateralism: Perspectives on Chip 4 Alliance, the QUAD, and IPEF

Principle Investigator：Amina Reem

In the 21st century, semiconductors have become synonymous with national power and international leverage, earning the term “the new oil.” This centrality has inevitably intensified great-power competition between the United States and China, a dynamic underscored by Washington’s export controls and the enactment of the CHIPS Act. China’s growing influence in the global supply chains has been a major concern for the United States and other countries, which has exposed the risks of disruption, the geopolitical vulnerabilities of pivotal players, and the need for protecting critical supply-chain lines. In this context, chip minilateralism has received enormous attention, often referred to as the group of like-minded countries which aim to secure semiconductor supply chains from economic vulnerabilities and mounting geopolitical competition. The U.S. and its allies have pursued minilateral initiatives with like-minded partners to establish democratic supply chains and diversify supply chains from China. The study intends to examine the role of three such chip minilaterals—Chip 4 Alliance, the QUAD, and IPEF—in reshaping the semiconductor landscape in the Indo-Pacific, its bottlenecks, and future trajectories.
The proposed study intends to address the following objectives:

1. To examine the significance of minilateral frameworks in addressing global security concerns, with a specific focus on chip minilateralism.
2. To analyze the extent to which the U.S.–China tech rivalry fosters the formation of minilateral alliances in semiconductors as a form of friend-shoring.
3. To analyze the role of minilateral frameworks such as Chip 4 Alliance, the QUAD, and IPEF in shaping the geopolitical and geo-economic landscape of semiconductors in the Indo-Pacific and their potential implications, challenges, and future directions on regional security dynamics.

The methodology employed in this research would be historical, analytical, and descriptive in nature, using primary and secondary sources of data. The study will be built on the conceptual framework of minilateralism and how semiconductors drive its minilateral frameworks.