A question far more consequential than who runs Nvidia may now be haunting the company’s investors: were portions of its reported revenue built on illegal chip sales to China?
Short-seller Culper Research has alleged it uncovered documents showing that Singaporean data center operator Megaspeed was financed by Chinese tech giant Alibaba through a Singaporean shell company.
Megaspeed sits at the center of accusations that Nvidia chips reached Chinese buyers in violation of sweeping U.S. export restrictions that took effect in April 2025.
Those restrictions effectively barred Nvidia from selling its chips into China, a market the company and its then-CEO had actively lobbied the Trump administration to reopen.
If Culper’s findings hold up, the financial implications for Nvidia could be severe, potentially forcing a restatement of revenues and inviting regulatory action at a moment the company can least afford it.
The scandal gained a dramatic personal dimension when reports emerged linking a top Megaspeed executive, Alice Huang, who is not related to Jensen Huang, to an alleged extramarital affair with the Nvidia co-founder.
Alice Huang has been described in multiple reports as a possible Chinese intelligence operative, a detail that has amplified scrutiny of Megaspeed’s entire relationship with Nvidia.
Jensen Huang, who famously co-founded Nvidia more than three decades ago at a Denny’s restaurant, stepped down as CEO after reports surfaced of multiple alleged extramarital affairs, including with as many as two Nvidia employees.
CFO Colette Kress has since been appointed interim CEO, tasked with steadying one of the world’s most valuable technology companies through an extraordinarily turbulent stretch.
Nvidia’s stock has fallen more than 28% over the past month, a steep decline that reflects not just the leadership uncertainty but growing investor anxiety over the Megaspeed allegations.
Analysts broadly expect Nvidia to retain its dominance in AI chip manufacturing regardless of who leads the company, given the depth of its technological moat and customer relationships.
But the Culper Research thesis, which has gained credibility in the wake of the Huang scandal, raises a structural question about how Nvidia’s revenue was actually generated during a period of strict export controls.
The Alibaba connection alleged by Culper, routed through a shell company in Singapore, suggests a level of deliberate financial architecture that regulators are unlikely to overlook.
For investors, the leadership transition may ultimately prove to be the easier problem to solve compared to a potential federal investigation into whether export laws were systematically circumvented.
Nvidia has not publicly addressed the Culper Research report in detail, and the full scope of any government inquiry, if one materialises, remains unclear at this stage.
