Abstract: The chip manufacturing industry is a strategic pillar for China’s technological self-reliance and high-quality development. The connectivity of its innovation networks directly affects China’s position and competitive advantage in the global innovation, industrial, and supply chains. However, existing studies have seldom explored the interactive connectivity of knowledge, technology, and product elements from a percolation-based multi-layer network perspective. This paper constructs multi-layer innovation networks for China and the world in the “knowledge-technology-product” dimensions, using data from research papers, patents, and product supply collaborations in the chip manufacturing sector from 2013 to 2022. By applying the generating function method based on percolation theory, the study characterizes the dynamic percolation process, measures the inter-layer and intra-layer connectivity, and reveals its structural evolution and connectivity thresholds. The findings are as follows: (1) There are significant differences in the connectivity of single-layer innovation networks in China’s chip manufacturing sector. The knowledge network remains stably connected, while the technology network has exhibited disconnection since 2018, and the product network shows an inverted U-shaped trend in connectivity. (2) The interactive connectivity of the “knowledge-technology-product” innovation chain is relatively low. The diffusion paths from knowledge to technology and from knowledge to products are technically connected but inefficient, and the path from technology to products is disrupted. (3) The distribution of the largest subgroups in the multi-layer innovation networks is uneven, with low aggregation of heterogeneous innovation resources, resulting in insufficient resilience across the overall network.

Key words: chip manufacturing, multilayer innovation network, percolation theory, interaction connectivity