zippy chip

[MetalMan]

This isn't a "chip", it is a PCB (Printed Circuit Board) as suicideneil pointed out.
There are two ways to build Lipos, with a PCB or without. Some manufacturers do it one way, others do it the other way. Basically the PCB just makes attaching the cell tabs together a bit cleaner and more manageable. Some manufacturers including soldering points for balance connector wires to be attached on their PCBs, so they don't have to be soldered directly to the cell tabs (the less heat on the cell tabs the better). In some cases PCBs increase the likelihood of a battery going bad, which is typically the result of the PCB cracking due to a crash or hard impact directly on the PCB.