Short-selling firm Culper report calls out targeting NVIDIA: allowing chips to be illegally shipped onward, with 20% of revenue coming from China

Well-known short-selling firm Culper Research published a report on May 13, 2026, claiming that after Nvidia (Nvidia, NVDA) publicly declared it had exited the China market, it nevertheless continued to ship high-performance AI chips to China through illegal channels and Southeast Asian middlemen. Culper also said it has established a short position in NVDA, describing the data as “only the tip of the iceberg.” After the news broke, Nvidia’s stock price did not fall that day but instead rose by nearly 2.3%.

Culper Research report: more than one-fifth of revenue comes from China; Nvidia falsely claims it exited the market

In the report, Culper Research said that although Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang repeatedly stressed that the company has fully exited the China market, and claimed externally that after U.S. trade restrictions were implemented in April 2025, its China business had dropped to zero, according to Culper’s investigation, in Nvidia’s fiscal year 2026, more than 20% of its compute-chip revenue still originates from China—only it is concealed through illegal transshipment and Southeast Asian middlemen.

The firm believes Nvidia possesses tools to detect such transshipment activities but failed to take action to curb them, highlighting potential governance lapses within the company, and running counter to Nvidia’s public statements to investors and regulators.

(Former co-founder of Super Micro involved in smuggling $2.5 billion worth of Nvidia AI chips to China; SMCI stock plunges 12% after hours)

Key figures: Megaspeed in Singapore and a secret funding chain involving Alibaba

In its report, Culper mentioned the Singapore company Megaspeed International, which is Nvidia’s largest chip buyer in Southeast Asia. The report reveals that Megaspeed’s balance sheet surged from $33 million to $3 billion within just one year, with almost the entire jump coming from “refundable guarantees” totaling $2.9 billion from sources of unknown origin.

Separately, Malaysian corporate registration documents show that Megaspeed subsidiary Speedmatrix pledged its entire business assets in June 2024 to a Singapore entity, Apex Enterprise Solutions, and Apex’s parent company is China tech giant Alibaba. As of the end of March 2025, Apex’s prepayments to Alibaba exceeded $4.1 billion, with corresponding accounts payable loans of $4.2 billion—making the flow of funds clearly traceable.

Trade records further show that from December 2024 to January 2026, Speedmatrix imported approximately $4.6 billion worth of server products, of which $4 billion came from Aivres Systems Inc., which is also an elite OEM partner of Nvidia that specializes in assembling servers equipped with Nvidia chips. By the way, Aivres’s predecessor was Inspur Systems, a major Chinese server manufacturer, and it still has one-third of its equity held by the Chinese state.

Jensen Huang’s private itinerary is called out; Super Micro case reveals only the tip of the iceberg of the smuggling network

Culper also named the private dealings between Jensen Huang and key figures at Megaspeed. The report cites a current Megaspeed employee, saying that Jensen Huang visits Megaspeed’s data centers every few months, and that on each occasion, representatives from Alibaba accompany him, indicating a very close relationship between the two sides.

In response, Culper linked Nvidia’s cooperation model with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) indictment filed in March 2026 against Super Micro Computer (SMCI), and argued that Megaspeed is merely an exposed fragment within a larger server smuggling network. The relevant investigations are still ongoing.

Earlier, Nvidia told The New York Times that Megaspeed is a company “fully owned by companies outside China, with no China-based shareholders.” Culper specifically pointed out that Nvidia’s wording only covers the equity structure and deliberately avoids the behind-the-scenes financing relationships.

Beijing turns to domestic chips; Nvidia may face a revenue shortfall

In addition to legal risks, Culper’s report also warns about Nvidia’s future revenue outlook. As Beijing actively clamps down on foreign chips and accelerates domestic AI substitution, if this illegal pipeline into China is cut off, Nvidia’s forward-looking revenue is expected to face a massive “gap shortfall.”

Also, the timing of Culper’s report release is quite sensitive: Jensen Huang is today traveling with U.S. President Trump to China to attend the Trump-Xi meeting, attempting to reopen sales channels for chips to China. In this context, NVDA’s stock price actually closed up 2.29% to $225.83 that day, suggesting investors are currently focusing more on the upside of easing China-related trade than on the short-seller report’s allegations.

This article first appeared on Chain News ABMedia.