27th October 2026 – (Shanghai) ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming has again been named China’s richest person on the Hurun China Rich List, his fortune swollen by the artificial-intelligence boom to a record 670 billion yuan – about US$99.7 billion – as DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng stormed onto the ranking for the first time.
The Hurun Research Institute’s 28th annual list, released on Tuesday with wealth measured as of 1st September, put the 43-year-old Zhang back on top after he first led in 2024. His wealth rose 43 per cent as TikTok owner ByteDance pushed hard into AI, lifting him past every previous mark for China’s number one. Last year’s leader, Nongfu Spring founder Zhong Shanshan, slipped after Wantai Bio shares in his empire retreated. His fortune shrank 23 per cent to 410 billion yuan, though that is still about 20 per cent higher than two years earlier.
CATL chairman Zeng Yuqun saw wealth climb 17 per cent to 385 billion yuan, moving up one place to third on the back of demand for new-energy vehicles and energy storage. Tencent chairman Ma Huateng fell 26 per cent to 346 billion yuan in fourth. The He Xiangjian family of Midea Group ranked fifth on 310 billion yuan. CK Group founder Li Ka-shing and elder son Victor Li together were valued at 253 billion yuan, placing ninth – below the new AI money.
New faces this year clustered in semiconductors, artificial intelligence, robotics and industrial products. Liang, 41, debuted in seventh place with 280 billion yuan after DeepSeek’s open-source large models shook the global AI trade – a fortune that tops the Li family’s entry on this snapshot. Unitree Robotics founder Wang Xingxing, 36, also made the cut at 69.5 billion yuan.
The list counted 1,529 people with more than 5 billion yuan – up 95, or about 6.6 per cent, from last year and a record that beats the previous peak of 1,460 in 2021. Combined wealth on the list reached 32 trillion yuan, up 7 per cent, or 2.1 trillion yuan. Entrepreneurs in the trillion-yuan class rose by two to 43; those above 100 billion yuan rose by 69 to 819. Gains were highly concentrated: the ten who added the most wealth together grew by more than 900 billion yuan and accounted for 56 per cent of the entire 2.1 trillion yuan increase across the ranking.
By city density of listees, Shenzhen leapt to first with 177 names, up 30 and ahead of Shanghai’s 161 (up nine) and Beijing’s 140 (down six). Hong Kong added three to 102 and Hangzhou four to 88, ranking fourth and fifth. For a board once dominated by drinks, phones and property, Tuesday’s order of battle – Zhang’s AI-swollen crown, Liang’s first-time leap past the Li household – underlines where Hurun’s China money is moving now.