The Hurun Research Institute's latest annual ranking of China's wealthiest people shows artificial intelligence emerging as the main driver of wealth creation in the country, with ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming reclaiming the top spot after several years.
Zhang Yiming returns to the top with a $100 billion fortune
The list put Zhang Yiming's net worth at 100 billion dollars, up 43 percent from a year earlier and a record high for China's richest person. Zhong Shanshan, founder of Nongfu Spring, who had held the top spot, saw his wealth fall 23 percent to 61 billion dollars, dropping him to second place.
AI and chip entrepreneurs climb the ranks
Robin Zeng, chairman of battery maker CATL, ranked third. Liang Wenfeng, founder of DeepSeek, debuted on the list in seventh place, while Chen Tianshi, chairman of chipmaker Cambricon, placed tenth. Xiaomi founder Lei Jun, meanwhile, saw his fortune nearly halve to 25.1 billion dollars, making him one of the biggest decliners on this year's list.
A record number of entrants
The ranking included a record 1,529 individuals with net worth above 5 billion yuan, or roughly 750 million dollars, up 6.6 percent from a year earlier. The number of dollar billionaires reached 1,176, an increase of 155 people, putting China 176 ahead of the United States by that measure. The report also found that one in ten people on the list derive their wealth from the AI sector, totaling 160 individuals.
A widening divide, with no mainland developers in the top 100
The rankings point to a sharp divide within China's economy, with high tech sectors such as AI, semiconductors and robotics posting strong gains while consumer goods, real estate and traditional manufacturing faced headwinds. Amid the prolonged property market downturn, no mainland Chinese real estate developer appeared among the top 100 entries for the first time. ByteDance's Doubao, widely regarded as one of China's most used AI assistants, is seen as a key factor behind the surge in Zhang's fortune.
