Six months before the Nvidia spying scandal surfaced, New York-based short seller Calper Research was already raising questions about the unusually close relationship between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based MegaSpeed, which buys Nvidia chips. She is now suspected of being a Chinese spy.
Nvidia’s CEO admitted to having an affair over the weekend, but the company has now launched a formal investigation into his relationship with Alice Huang (who shares the same last name but is not related). U.S. intelligence officials believe she was scouted by the Chinese government to gather information about Jensen Huang and influence his position on U.S. export controls for advanced AI chips.
Culper’s May 13 report has resurfaced because it addressed the relationship between Jensen Huang and Alice Huang during its investigation into the relationship between MegaSpeed and Nvidia.
The report specifically described the relationship between the two executives as “uncomfortably close,” noting that the Nvidia CEO was spotted partying and socializing with Alice Fan on numerous occasions. The report even claims that some Nvidia employees wonder if they have a “special relationship.”
Calper Research also theorized that Nvidia’s lost Chinese business due to export restrictions was rerouted through Southeast Asia, and that MegaSpeed, the region’s leading chip buyer, was secretly funded by Chinese tech giant Alibaba through a shell company. It pointed to financial records showing MegaSpeed’s total debt and equity increased from $33 million at the end of 2023 to about $3 billion by the end of 2024, much of it in the form of refundable deposits from unidentified sources.
The Financial Times reported on Monday that documents show Alibaba was lending money to MegaSpeed through a subsidiary.
Because Calper is a short seller, it stands to benefit financially from making these claims, and the potential for illegal diversion of chips has not been independently verified. The report is available on the web and was posted on X in May.
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