Short seller flagged Nvidia CEO's ties to a suspected Chinese spy back in May
US research firm Culper Research published a report on May 13 questioning the unusually close relationship between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Megaspeed executive Alice Huang, who is now suspected of spying for China. Nvidia has opened a formal investigation.
Six months before the scandal surfaced, New York-based Culper Research, a short seller that profits when a company's share price falls, published a report on May 13 questioning the unusually close relationship between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Alice Huang. She is an executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that buys chips from Nvidia, the AI chipmaker, and is now suspected of being a Chinese spy.
Over the weekend, the Nvidia chief admitted to an extramarital affair, and the company has opened a formal investigation into his relationship with Alice Huang. She shares his surname but is not related to him. U.S. intelligence officials believe the Chinese government recruited her to gather intelligence on Jensen Huang and to influence his stance on U.S. export controls on advanced AI chips.
What the Culper report said
The report described the two executives' relationship as "uncomfortably close" and noted that the Nvidia CEO had been seen partying and socializing with Alice Huang on several occasions. It also claimed that some Nvidia employees wondered whether the pair had a "special relationship."
Culper further theorized that the China business Nvidia lost because of export controls had been rerouted through Southeast Asia, and that Megaspeed, a major chip buyer in the region, was secretly financed by Chinese tech giant Alibaba through shell companies. It cited financial records showing that Megaspeed's total liabilities and equity grew from $33 million at the end of 2023 to about $3 billion by the end of 2024, much of it in refundable deposits from an unidentified source.
The Financial Times reported on Monday that documents show Alibaba lent money to Megaspeed through subsidiaries.
Caveats
Culper is a short seller and therefore stood to benefit financially from the allegations. Claims about possible illegal chip diversion have not been independently verified. The report is available online and was also posted on X in May.
