This year, the number of ultra-wealthy individuals in China reached an all-time high as tech magnates, including the founder of DeepSeek, joined the closely tracked list amid the country's expanding presence in artificial intelligence.
According to the annual Hurun China Rich List published on Tuesday, the number of people whose net worth exceeds 5 billion yuan ($750 million USD) grew to a record 1,529, significantly surpassing the previous high of 1,460 recorded in 2021.
Lian Wenfeng, founder of the AI startup DeepSeek, debuted at seventh place with an estimated net worth of $41.7 billion—one of 263 newcomers, most of whom come from sectors such as semiconductors, AI, and robotics.
His wealth increased thanks to DeepSeek's R1 reasoning model, which caused a stir in the industry last year and triggered a sell-off in American tech stocks.
This year's list reflected China's concept of a 'dual-speed economy,' where technological fortunes grew against a backdrop of declining traditional wealth, noted Rupert Huggeverf, a senior researcher at the Hurun Research Institute that publishes the list.
Of the top 100 individuals, 60 percent amassed their fortunes in sectors designated by China under a plan launched in 2015 to achieve technological leadership within ten years.
Huggeverf stated in a press release: 'It was a year when 'Made in China 2025' became a reality.'
Zhang Yiming, founder of ByteDance and China's richest person in 2024, reclaimed the top spot with an estimated net worth of $99.7 billion—a record for this list. He overtook John Shanshan, founder of Nongfu Spring, known as the 'King of Bottled Water.'
ByteDance, which includes TikTok and Douyin, has faced increasing regulatory pressure globally; however, its AI chatbot Doubao boasts nearly 420 million monthly active users, significantly outpacing local competitors.
Robin Zeng from CATL, Pony Ma from Tencent, William Ding from NetEase, and Chen Tianshi from Cambricon also made the top 10.
It is reported that DeepSeek is close to completing a new funding round of 100 billion yuan—a record for the Chinese AI industry—which could value the company at approximately 500 billion yuan.
Hurun's list of China's richest women, published on Wednesday, showed that Zhou Cunfan, founder of sensor screen manufacturer Lens Technology, maintained her first-place position with a net worth of $18.9 billion.