"Why Spend On R&D?" Rajeev Chandrasekhar Jabs China Over Nvidia Spy Claim

BJP leader and former Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar today took a swipe at China over its habitual "shortcut on R&D", amid allegations that a Chinese executive who had an affair with Nvidia chief Jensen Huang was working for Beijing's intelligence establishment.

"Why spend money on R&D when you have an easier, cheaper, faster way to access tech through honeytrapping?" Chandrasekhar said in a post on X, calling the matter China's latest shortcut to acquiring sensitive Western technology.

The New York Times reported last month that US intelligence officials found Alice Huang, a Chinese executive associated with Singapore-based data centre company Megaspeed, had been passing information to Beijing.

Alice Huang, who is also known as Huang Le and is not related to the Nvidia chief, had developed a close relationship with him, according to the report.

China has rejected the espionage allegation.

Chandrasekhar, who has served as former minister of state for electronics and information technology in the Modi government, pointed out that the kind of "shortcut" China has taken in the latest case was nothing new.

"China's 'R&D' strategy has for decades been built on shortcuts, 'helping themselves' to Western technology, often using means that most other countries would baulk at," he wrote on X. "For China, the ends justify their means. Any means, any way. That's their way. No global ethics or norms like trust apply to them," he added.

The BJP leader reposted a comment he had made in October 2020, when he argued that the openness of democratic systems had enabled China to obtain Western technology.

"I'm not going to comment on Hunter Biden's role. But open democratic systems like US and Western Europe are where China has harvested, aka stolen, most of its tech from," he had written in the old post referring to a media report about BHR Partners, a largely Chinese state-backed investment firm.

Why spend money on R&D when you have an easier, cheaper, faster way to access tech through Honeytrapping ? 😅😁 Chinas “R&D” strategy has for decades been built on shortcuts - “helping themselves” to western technology - often using means that most other countries would baulk at. For China the ends justify their means - any means, any way - that's their way. No global ethics or norms like Trust apply to them. Anyone who has studied Tech history of last 3 decades and Chinas rise will also learn about the “China way”. RTing an earlier 2020 tweet of mine , with this latest Chinese “R&D” move 😅

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@RajeevRC_X) November 9, 2026

Hunter Biden, the son of former US president Joe Biden, had served as a director in that firm and it had invested in and acquired technology considered strategically important to China.

The latest controversy comes as China and the US compete for supremacy in artificial intelligence and advanced semiconductors. Washington has restricted the export of its most sophisticated chips to China, while Nvidia remains the dominant global supplier of processors used to train and run artificial-intelligence models.

Megaspeed had come under scrutiny over the possible movement of Nvidia artificial-intelligence chips to China, according to the NYT report. The relationship could also have given Huang access to insights about US President Donald Trump's thinking on AI, the report said.

Nvidia's board has opened an independent investigation after Jensen Huang acknowledged the affair.