A short seller flagged Nvidia CEO’s ties to a suspected Chinese spy six months before the scandal

Six months earlier the Nvidia spy ungraded emerged, the New York-based abbreviated seller steadfast Culper Research had already raised questions astir Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s unusually adjacent narration with Alice Huang, an enforcement astatine Megaspeed, a Singapore-based institution that buys Nvidia chips. She is present suspected to beryllium a Chinese spy.

The Nvidia CEO admitted to an extramarital affair implicit the weekend, and the institution has present opened a ceremonial probe into his narration with Alice Huang (who shares his past sanction but is not related). U.S. quality officials judge she was recruited by the Chinese authorities to cod quality connected Jensen Huang and power his presumption regarding U.S. export controls connected precocious AI chips.

Culper’s May 13 report is resurfacing due to the fact that it picked up connected the transportation betwixt Jensen Huang and Alice Huang portion investigating Megaspeed’s ties to Nvidia.

In particular, the study called the narration betwixt the 2 executives “uncomfortably close,” noting that the Nvidia CEO was spotted partying and socializing with Alice Huang connected aggregate occasions. The study adjacent claimed that immoderate Nvidia employees wondered whether they had a “special relationship.”

Culper Research besides theorized the China concern that Nvidia mislaid to export controls had been rerouted done Southeast Asia, and that Megaspeed, a large spot purchaser successful the region, was secretly financed by Chinese tech elephantine Alibaba done ammunition companies. It pointed to fiscal records that showed Megaspeed’s full liabilities and equity had grown from $33 cardinal astatine the extremity of 2023 to astir $3 cardinal by the extremity of 2024, overmuch of it successful the signifier of refundable deposits from an unidentified source.

The Financial Times reported Monday that documents amusement Alibaba lent wealth to Megaspeed done subsidiaries.

Culper is simply a abbreviated seller, truthful it stood to financially payment from making these allegations, and those astir imaginable amerciable spot diversion person not been independently verified. Its study is disposable on the web and was posted to X backmost successful May.