Cici Cao

Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek's founder Liang Wenfeng has entered the Hurun Global Rich List with a fortune of 33 billion yuan (HK$35.36 billion).

DeepSeek stunned the tech industry and Wall Street in January with a new AI model it claimed to have developed at a fraction of the cost spent by global competitors like OpenAI. The start-up, mostly staffed by young researchers, sparked an AI stock selloff that month.

A number of Chinese tech giants including Alibaba (9988) and Tencent (0700) have since raced to adopt DeepSeek's latest AI models in a bid to capitalize on the AI boom.

Liang's wealth is nearly three times more than the 13 billion yuan attributed to OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman, who is also a newcomer on the list.

The ranking also saw Zhang Yiming, founder of TikTok owner ByteDance, become China's richest person, overtaking bottled water tycoon Zhong Shanshan, founder of Nongfu Spring (9633). Zhang's fortune surged 76 percent to 435 billion yuan, thanks to the growing valuation of ByteDance, driven by its AI business. Tencent co-founder Pony Ma Huateng was among China's top three richest people with 320 billion yuan.

Globally, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk reclaimed the title of the world's richest person for the fourth time in five years, with a fortune of 3.07 trillion yuan.

The United States remains home to the most with 870 billionaires, an increase of 70 from the previous year, while China ranks second with 823, adding nine more.

Among the fastest-growing fortunes, Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi (1810), saw his wealth more than double to 220 billion yuan, earning him a place in China's top 10 for the first time.

He also surpassed Hong Kong's Li Ka-shing and his son Victor Li Tzar-kuoi, who hold a combined fortune of 210 billion yuan.

US President Donald Trump also saw a significant rise in wealth to 52.5 billion yuan, making him the richest US president in history.

DeepSeek founder three times richer than OpenAI's Altman