AI Wealth: Zhang Yiming Reclaims China's Top Spot

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has returned to the top of China's wealth rankings with a net worth of $100 billion, according to data released Tuesday. The surge in his fortune is directly tied to the company's expansion into artificial intelligence. The Hurun Research Institute published the annual list, which tracks the financial status of the country's most affluent individuals.

The report marks a record year for the Chinese billionaire class. The institute counted 1,529 individuals with assets exceeding 5 billion yuan, or about $750 million. This represents a 6.6% increase from the previous year. When measured in U.S. dollars, the number of billionaires reached 1,176. That figure is 176 higher than the current count in the United States, though it remains slightly below the 1,185 recorded in 2021.

Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of the Hurun Report, attributed Zhang's rise to the success of Doubao, which he identified as China's most used AI assistant. Hoogewerf stated that almost all of the founder's wealth increase came from this sector. He noted that AI is now the primary driver of wealth on the list, with 160 individuals, or one in ten, deriving their income from the technology.

The shift in wealth has created a distinct gap between technology leaders and traditional industry players. Zhong Shanshan, the bottled water magnate, dropped to second place with a net worth of $61 billion, a 23% decline. Robin Zeng, chairman of CATL, the world's largest maker of electric vehicle batteries, secured the third position. Meanwhile, Lei Jun, chairman of Xiaomi, saw his wealth halved to $25.1 billion, making him the largest decliner on the list.

New entrants to the list reflect the current market focus. Liang Wenfeng, founder of the AI startup DeepSeek, appeared for the first time at number seven. Chen Tianshi, chair of AI chipmaker Cambricon, ranked tenth. Hoogewerf described the economy as two-speed, with entrepreneurs in AI, semiconductors, and robotics seeing significant gains while those in consumer goods and traditional manufacturing faced shrinking fortunes.

The property sector has been particularly hard hit. For the first time in the list's history, no mainland property developer remained in the top 100. The only property-related names at the top are now Hong Kong landlord families. This trend aligns with recent economic data showing that while China's GDP grew 4.5% in the third quarter, domestic demand remains weighed down by the yearslong downturn in the property market.