ByteDance Founder Zhang Yiming Returns to Top of China's Rich List on AI Surge

ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has regained his place as China's richest person, lifted by his company's push into artificial intelligence. The Hurun Research Institute published its annual ranking on Tuesday.

Zhang's fortune reached $100 billion, up 43% and a record for China's richest person. Rupert Hoogewerf, chairman of the Hurun Report, said the increase came "almost all of it on the back of AI." He noted that ByteDance's Doubao is the most widely used AI assistant in China. ByteDance is also the parent company of the short-video platforms TikTok and Douyin.

Bottled water magnate Zhong Shanshan dropped to second place with $61 billion, a fall of 23%. Robin Zeng, chairman of CATL, the world's largest maker of batteries for electric vehicles, ranked third. Liang Wenfeng, founder of the AI startup DeepSeek, entered the list for the first time and placed seventh. Chen Tianshi, chair of the AI chipmaker Cambricon, came in tenth.

Hurun, which has published the list every year since 1999, counted a record 1,529 people worth more than 5 billion yuan, or about $750 million. That is up 6.6% from last year. The number of billionaires measured in U.S. dollars rose by 155 to 1,176, slightly below the 1,185 recorded in 2021.

Hoogewerf called AI the biggest single source of new wealth on the list. He said 160 people, or one in ten, now make their money from the technology. He described the year's gains as polarised: "entrepreneurs in AI, semiconductors and robotics surged ahead, whilst those in consumer, real estate and traditional manufacturing saw their wealth shrink," which he called a two-speed economy. Hurun said it cross-checked its figures with entrepreneurs, regulators and industry experts, while acknowledging the limits of its method.

The split mirrors conditions in the wider economy. China said last week that its economy grew 4.5% in the July to September quarter from a year earlier, helped by strong exports. That brings the country closer to its 2026 growth target of 4.5% to 5%, down from last year's 5% expansion. Some industries are thriving with government backing for technologies such as AI and electric vehicles. Owners of small businesses, however, report hard times as customers cut spending, and domestic demand remains weighed down by a yearslong property downturn.

The list showed that strain. Lei Jun, chairman of the electronics maker Xiaomi, was the biggest faller, with his wealth halved to $25.1 billion. Hoogewerf said consumer fortunes fell across the board. He also pointed out that, for the first time, no mainland property developer remains in the top 100. The only property names left there are Hong Kong landlord families.

The ranking also touches on TikTok's U.S. business. Its U.S. operations were reorganized in January under mostly American investors, after years of national security concerns that nearly led to a ban. ByteDance retains a minority stake in the U.S. arm. Oracle, chaired by Larry Ellison, is one of the investors. His son David Ellison is co-CEO of Skydance Corp., the parent company of CBS News.