Embodiments relate to an electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit and a chip. The ESD protection circuit includes: an ESD protection module, arranged inside a protected chip and connected to a protected circuit; and a control module, connected to the ESD protection module and configured to output a low-level signal to the ESD protection module to trigger the ESD protection module to discharge an electrostatic current when an ESD event occurs in the protected chip, and output a high-level signal to the ESD protection module to reduce a static leakage current of the ESD protection module when the ESD event does not occur in the protected chip.