Short-Seller Report Warns of Serious China Issues
Culper Research on 今年5月13日 published a 40頁 research report on NVIDIA, just as NVIDIA shares had hit a new high, warning that NVIDIA faced serious China issues. The report questioned whether, after the U.S. imposed AI chip export restrictions in 2025年4月, NVIDIA may still have continued supplying chips to China through East South Asia intermediaries. Culper estimated that more than 20% of NVIDIA's computing revenue in 2026財年 remained tied to the China market, and suspected restricted chips may have flowed into China via transshipment.
Megaspeed's 兩年 Purchase of 48億美元
The report named Singapore data-center operator Megaspeed as a key focus, noting the company was set up from the overseas spin-off of Chinese gaming and cloud-computing firm Seventh Avenue and had become a major NVIDIA customer in Asia, purchasing 48億美元 in chips over 兩年, or 約新台幣1575億元. Culper further alleged Megaspeed may have received financial backing from Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba through a series of shell companies, questioning its actual funding sources and chip flows. NVIDIA has previously said Megaspeed is held by non-China entities and has no Chinese shareholders.
Huang Le–Jensen Huang Interactions Already Drew Attention
The report also highlighted Megaspeed executive Huang Le's interactions with Jensen Huang, calling the relationship unsettlingly close and compiling multiple records of joint appearances. In 2024年6月, Jensen Huang gathered with key Asian NVIDIA customers at a Taipei bar, with Huang Le also present. NetThunder CEO Schmidt told the New York Times that Huang Le had claimed he could invite Jensen Huang, after which Jensen Huang and senior executives did appear, and a LinkedIn photo became their first public photo together. In 2025年5月, the two were photographed again sharing a business dinner with AI suppliers at Taipei's Sanshiuofu restaurant. Citing a current Megaspeed employee, the report said Jensen Huang visits the relevant data centers every few months on average, accompanied almost every time by Alibaba representatives. The report did not directly allege an affair or espionage at the time.
U.S. Probe and Board Response
Officials from the U.S. Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security visited Megaspeed's Malaysia data center in 2024年9月 and found NVIDIA chips still stored in boxes on site, raising transshipment concerns, which the U.S. later relayed to Singapore and Malaysia. Malaysia in 2025年7月 imposed license controls on all NVIDIA chip exports and transshipments, and trade records show Megaspeed had stopped receiving advanced NVIDIA chips by the end of 2025年7月. Bronte Capital founder Hampton praised Culper's research. After the New York Times in 今年10月 reported a U.S. probe into Megaspeed and Huang Le, Jensen Huang on 8日 sent an internal memo to staff admitting infidelity to his wife and apologizing, while the board announced the same day the formation of an independent-director special committee with outside counsel to investigate, stressing there is currently no reason to believe national security or company secrets have been compromised.