Culper Flagged Huang's Megaspeed Ties Six Months Before Scandal

Nvidia shares fell 4.27% to $178.67 on November 9, cutting its market value to $4.31 trillion, after CEO Jensen Huang admitted in a staff memo on November 8 that he had been unfaithful to his wife. The board opened an independent investigation. The scandal had been telegraphed six months earlier by a short seller that investors chose to ignore.

On May 13, 2026, New York short seller Culper Research published a 40-page report on Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA). It described Huang as "uncomfortably close" to Alice Huang, an executive at Megaspeed, Nvidia's largest Southeast Asian buyer. The two are not related. Culper disclosed a short position, so it stood to profit from a falling stock.

The report said Huang had been seen partying and socializing with Alice Huang on several occasions. It added that some Nvidia employees questioned whether the two had a special relationship.

What did Culper allege about China revenue?

Culper tracked money and chips through Megaspeed and reached a striking conclusion. It alleged that more than 20% of fiscal 2026 compute revenue was still driven by Chinese demand, moving through illegal diversion and Southeast Asian intermediaries.

That claim contradicted Nvidia's own account. The company had said its China compute business went to zero after the April 2025 export restrictions took effect.

Culper also alleged that Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) secretly financed Megaspeed through shell companies. The numbers behind that claim were unusual. Megaspeed's balance sheet grew from $33 million at the end of 2023 to roughly $3 billion a year later, with most of the increase coming from $2.9 billion in refundable deposits from unknown sources. The core allegation is that Nvidia's stated exit from China was never as clean as reported.

Why did investors ignore the report?

The market shrugged on the day. Shares rose 2.29% to $225.83 on May 13, then gained another 4.39% to $235.74 the next day. They went on to set a record close of $239.24 on October 6.

Two factors explain the indifference. Markets tend to discount short reports on very large companies because the author profits from a decline and the claims are hard to verify. Growth also outweighed the warning: second-quarter revenue rose 105.85% from a year earlier. When a business compounds at that pace, an unproven short thesis loses urgency.

The later decline has other causes too. The drop from the May peak includes the November 5 AI-chip selloff, so Culper alone did not drive the slide. Even so, the November 9 close sat 20.9% below the May 13 close, and the stock traded at $180.50 after hours.

Which claims now have outside support?

The Alibaba claim gained partial backing. On November 9, documents were reported to show that Alibaba lent money to Megaspeed through subsidiaries.

On October 29, U.S. officials were reported to have concluded that Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset. That finding remains unproven, and China's Foreign Ministry calls it unsupported.

Several other claims remain unverified, including:

• The China-driven share of compute revenue above 20%.
• The allegation that Megaspeed's subsidiary Speedmatrix imported $4.6 billion of goods, about $4 billion of it from Nvidia partner Aivres Systems.

Nvidia's only defense on record came on October 29, when a spokesperson said the diversion claims had been looked into and debunked the year before.

Why does diversion matter more than the memo?

The stakes differ sharply depending on which claim holds. If illegal China-driven demand is real, Nvidia faces export-control, legal, and revenue-quality risk. Data Center revenue was $89.023 billion last quarter, so the allegation reaches the core of the business.

If Culper is wrong, the probe is mainly a governance and key-person problem. That is serious, but the business can absorb it while guiding to $108.0 billion in quarterly revenue.

What should investors watch before November 17?

Nvidia's business still appears intact despite the board investigation, and the forecast excludes any China data center compute revenue. The earnings report expected on November 17 is the next test. Management never mentioned Culper or Alice Huang on the August call, so it now needs to address China exposure, Southeast Asian customers, and the investigation's scope.

Investors who want AI chip exposure with less reliance on one CEO may consider the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ:SMH), which holds Nvidia alongside a basket of other chipmakers.

Two signals would weaken the outlook: a close below $178.67 after the November 17 report, or a filing showing the investigation covers Megaspeed or export compliance. Until then, the dispute between Culper's numbers and Nvidia's guidance defines the stock's downside.