DeepSeek's Liang becomes richest AI model founder with US$36b fortune

DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng has become the wealthiest founder of an artificial intelligence model developer after his net worth more than doubled following the startup's latest fundraising, Bloomberg reported.

Liang is now worth US$36 billion (HK$280.8 billion), ranking ahead of Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei and OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The index's comparison specifically isolates founders whose primary revenue directly stems from AI models, explicitly excluding diversified technology groups such as Alibaba (9988) and Tencent (0700), as well as data-center and semiconductor companies in the broader AI supply chain.

Most of Liang's fortune comes from his controlling stake in DeepSeek, Bloomberg said.

The Chinese AI startup raised US$7.4 billion in June at a valuation of US$50 billion, with Liang contributing US$3 billion. Bloomberg estimated that his stake was diluted to about 78 percent after the fundraising.

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