Hurun Rich List: Zhang Yiming Tops China's Wealth Ranking, DeepSeek's Liang Wenfeng Ranks Seventh

October 28 — According to National Business Daily, the Hurun Research Institute released the "2026 Hurun China Rich List" on October 27. This year, 1,529 entrepreneurs with personal wealth of more than 5 billion yuan made the list, 95 more than last year, a record high. The total wealth of the listed entrepreneurs reached 32 trillion yuan, up 7% year-on-year (2.1 trillion yuan). Zhang Yiming, 43, founder of ByteDance, became China's richest person for the second time with 670 billion yuan, setting a new wealth record for China's richest person; his wealth gain was driven by a further rise in the company's valuation fueled by progress in its AI business. Zhong Shanshan, founder of Nongfu Spring, saw his wealth shrink by 120 billion yuan to 410 billion yuan, falling to second place.

This edition of the Hurun China Rich List includes 263 new faces. Wealth growth was particularly notable for entrepreneurs in the semiconductor and AI computing power sectors. The top newcomer is DeepSeek's Liang Wenfeng, who debuted on the list in seventh place with 280 billion yuan as the AI large-model boom drove rapid wealth accumulation; he is followed by Unitree Robotics' Wang Xingxing, who made the list with 69.5 billion yuan; Wang Zhirong, 56, of semiconductor display panel maker HKC, who made the list with 64.5 billion yuan; and Liu Debing and Tang Jie, founders of large-model company Zhipu, who entered the top ten newcomers with 39.5 billion yuan and 27.5 billion yuan.