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In recent years, cyberspace has been increasingly recognized as a national security challenge by states. Scholars have suggested that traditional IR theories have little to say about the impact of cyberspace on international relations. The study investigates whether cyberspace has been transformative of international relations, and whether or not this makes traditional IR theories irrelevant. The study focuses specifically on the relevance of realism, by applying neoclassical realism to the case of Sino-US tensions over the development and roll-out of 5G technology. By applying the concept of grand strategy, a qualitative content analysis is conducted on US and Chinese policy documents between 2015-2019, focusing on defined national security challenges, interests and ambitions and descriptions of each other and their intentions with regard to cyberspace and 5G. Results indicate that Sino-US perceptions of relative power distribution and of each other‘s intentions in cyberspace can explain tensions over the development and roll-out of 5G technology. This suggests that neoclassical realism is able to account for international relations dynamics in cyberspace and that cyberspace has not been as transformative of international relations as some have suggested. However, these results are tentative and further research in necessary to arrive at more conclusive answers.