$NVIDIA(NVDA)$ Culper shorts Nvidia over alleged China trade violations

Investing.com

Published Dec 31, 0000 07:00PM ET

Updated May 13, 2026 02:15PM ET

Investing.com -- Short seller Culper Research said Wednesday it has taken a short position on Nvidia Corp, claiming the chipmaker continues to derive over 20% of its fiscal 2026 compute revenues from China despite stating its China business went to "zero" after April 2025 U.S. trade restrictions.

Culper alleges that Nvidia’s China sales persist through illegal GPU diversion and Southeast Asian intermediaries, particularly through Megaspeed, Nvidia’s largest Southeast Asian chip buyer currently under investigation by U.S. Commerce and Singapore authorities.

The short seller claims documents suggest Megaspeed has been secretly financed by Alibaba through shell companies. Megaspeed’s financial statements show its balance sheet expanded from $33 million at year-end 2023 to $3.0 billion at year-end 2024, driven by $2.9 billion in refundable deposits from an unnamed source, according to Culper.

Malaysian filings show that in June 2024, Speedmatrix, a Megaspeed subsidiary, pledged its entire business as collateral to Apex Enterprise Solutions, a Singapore entity whose corporate parent is Alibaba, Culper said. As of March 31, 2025, Apex reported over $4.1 billion in prepayments against $4.2 billion in loans payable to Alibaba.

Trade records indicate Speedmatrix imported $4.6 billion in product from December 2024 through January 2026, with $4.0 billion originating from Aivres Systems Inc., an Nvidia Elite OEM compute partner that assembles Nvidia-equipped servers, Culper stated. Aivres was formerly known as Inspur Systems Inc. and remains one-third owned by the Chinese state.

Culper claims Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has maintained a close relationship with Megaspeed’s Alice Huang, a Chinese national. A current Megaspeed employee told Culper that Jensen visits Megaspeed-linked data centers every few months, accompanied by Alibaba representatives.

The short seller also referenced a March 2026 Department of Justice indictment of three individuals tied to Supermicro Computer for allegedly smuggling $2.5 billion of Nvidia-powered servers into China via a Southeast Asian entity.

Culper believes Nvidia’s actual China business is now declining as Beijing’s late 2025 and early 2026 policies have blocked Nvidia imports in favor of domestic alternatives. The firm’s review of trade records suggests substantial declines in first quarter 2026 shipments.

Based on these findings, Culper said it is short Nvidia and expects shares to head lower.

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