A Singapore company owned by Chinese technology giant Alibaba has a financing arrangement with a Malaysian subsidiary of Megaspeed International, which is under investigation over the suspected diversion of advanced artificial intelligence (AI) chips made by Nvidia. This has drawn attention to the business relationship between the two sides.
According to a company charge inspected by Lianhe Zaobao (LHZB), Megaspeed International’s Malaysian subsidiary Speedmatrix entered into an agreement with Alibaba’s Singapore subsidiary Apex Enterprise Solutions on 18 June 2024, pledging specified information technology and networking equipment, intellectual property and related rights as collateral.
Records show that the charge remained in force as of 11 November this year. If Speedmatrix fails to fulfil certain contractual obligations, Apex can enforce its security interest over the assets concerned.
According to company records, Apex was incorporated in Singapore in July 2023. Its registered address is at the Lazada One commercial building on Bras Basah Road. The building is leased by Alibaba and its Southeast Asian e-commerce platform Lazada.
According to records from Singapore’s Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA), Apex’s immediate holding company is Cloud Intelligence (Cayman) Holding. The offshore company’s ultimate parent group is Alibaba.
According to Apex’s audited financial statements for the financial year ended March 2025, its principal activity is providing procurement services.
Company registration records show that a person named Yuan Qian (Selina Yuan) served as a director from August 2023 to August 2025. The name matches that of a former Alibaba executive who has headed Alibaba Cloud’s international business in Singapore.
When contacted by LHZB, Yuan said only: “I’m not sure. I’ve already left the company.”
Apex’s current directors include Chinese nationals Gong Zhengyuan and Zhu Bofu.
US short-seller Culper Research published a report in May this year highlighting financing ties between Alibaba and Megaspeed International. It alleged that Alibaba may have provided billions of dollars through Apex to finance Megaspeed International’s purchases of Nvidia chips.
The firm claimed that Alibaba may have first provided funds to Apex, which then passed a substantial portion to Megaspeed International for distribution to its overseas subsidiaries. However, these fund flows have not been independently verified.
According to Megaspeed International’s latest available annual return, its other overseas subsidiaries include Malaysia’s Megaspeed International Sdn Bhd and MSFusion.
Speedmatrix and Megaspeed International Sdn Bhd primarily provide cloud hosting services. MSFusion was dormant as of the end of 2024. However, according to a stock exchange filing submitted by Malaysia-listed Crescendo Corporation in August this year, MSFusion signed agreements worth a total of RM263.2 million (about S$82.8 million) to buy land in Johor from Crescendo Corporation to build a data centre.
Megaspeed International holds a 99.99% stake in its Thai subsidiary Megaspeed (Thailand) and a 99% stake in its Indonesian subsidiary PT Megaspeed International Indonesia. Both provide cloud hosting services. It also has one wholly owned subsidiary each in Australia and the US.
