ZHANG YIMING, the founder of ByteDance, ranked as the wealthiest person on the 2025 New Fortune 500 Wealth Creation List for the first time, while DeepSeek’s founder Liang Wenfeng debuted in the top 10th.

Zhang, 42, saw his shareholding market value reach 481.6 billion yuan (US$67.2 billion), up from 12 billion yuan when he first appeared on the list in 2018, according to the new ranking released by the Chinese magazine Tuesday. Liang, 40, ranked 10th with a wealth of 184.6 billion yuan.

Zhong Shanshan, the founder of Nongfu Spring and last year’s wealthiest person, dropped to second this year. The artificial intelligence (AI) boom has become the primary driving factor behind the wealth fluctuations of the top 10 Chinese entrepreneurs.

The total wealth of the 500 entries reached 13.7 trillion yuan this year, up 11% from a year earlier. The threshold for entering the list was 6.6 billion yuan. The average wealth of the entrepreneurs or families was 27.4 billion yuan, with that of 341 exceeding 10 billion yuan.

Zhang’s ByteDance owns three of the top 10 native AI applications in China, including Doubao, Dreamina, and Doubao Aixue.

The AI momentum has also significantly lifted the fortunes of Tencent Holdings founder Pony Ma, Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma, and NetEase founder William Ding, keeping them in the top 10 on the list. Xiaomi founder Lei Jun ranked sixth after his wealth surged 96% to 201 billion yuan from a year ago, mainly thanks to Xiaomi Auto sales.

The rest of the top 10 were PDD Holdings founder Huang Zheng, Contemporary Amperex Technology founder Zeng Yuqun, and Midea Group founders He Xiangjian and his family.

Billionaires in the chip industry are experiencing the fastest wealth growth, with the fortune of Chen Tianshi, founder of Cambricon Technologies, soaring 370% to 78.6 billion yuan, claiming the top spot in the growth ranking for a second straight year.

(SD-Agencies)