Foreign Media: China Regains the Title of the Country with the Most Billionaires in the World, AI Becomes a New Wealth Engine
The 2026 Hurun Global Rich List shows that the total number of billionaires worldwide reached 4,020, a new historical high, an increase of 578 people, and China (including mainland China, Macau, Hong Kong, and Taiwan) accounted for half of the new additions.
China has surpassed the United States with 1,110 billionaires, regaining the position of the country with the most billionaires in the world. It increased by 287 people compared to the previous list, not only recovering all losses from the past three years but also surpassing them. Rising stock markets and the rise of the artificial intelligence industry were the main driving forces.
AI has created two new Chinese billionaires: Yan Junjie, founder of MiniMax, with 3.6 billion dollars on the list, and Liu Debing, founder of Zhipu AI, with 1.2 billion dollars on the list.
The top three on the global rich list are: Elon Musk (79.2 billion dollars, the first individual in history to have personal wealth exceeding 70 billion dollars), Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon (30 billion dollars), and Larry Page, co-founder of Alphabet (28.1 billion dollars).
Julbert, chairman of the Hurun Research Institute, said that the trend of concentration of global economic power is still ongoing, and AI and Chinese enterprises going global are the core themes of this round of wealth growth.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1858838499045379/
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