China’s stock markets have been on a roll, as the country’s AI advances fueled investor optimism. The Hang Seng Index was up 10% since last year’s list of the World’s Billionaires, while the CSI 300 Index — which tracks 300 stocks listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses – rallied nearly 20%. Despite the Iran War-induced volatilities, onshore shares may rise further and enter a “slow bull” market, as earnings improve amid Beijing’s efforts of curbing excessive competition and price wars in sectors ranging from electric vehicles to food delivery, according to UBS Securities in March.

Amid all this market optimism, the collective fortune of Chinese billionaires on Forbes’ annual ranking reached nearly $2.2 trillion—close to the record $2.5 trillion set in 2021, before the pandemic and private-sector crackdowns decimated the market value of many technology giants. This year’s collective wealth is up 31% from $1.68 trillion in 2025, and $1.33 trillion two years ago.

In 2026, there are 539 mainland Chinese members of the three-comma club, up from 450 last year and also higher than the 406 reached in 2024. AI-related sectors minted several notable newcomers such as Liu Debing. With an estimated fortune of $9.1 billion, the 50-year-old chairman of Hong Kong-listed AI model developer Knowledge Atlas Technology (better known as Zhipu) is China’s richest newcomer. Mainland China accounts for the second-largest number of billionaires globally, behind the U.S., which has 989 billionaires.

Mainland China doesn’t include passport holders from Hong Kong, whom Forbes lists separately. Robin Zeng, the founder of Hong Kong- and Shenzhen-listed battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology(CATL), is the richest tycoon in the Asian financial hub. Zeng’s fortune of $53.2 billion tops that of revered business titan Li Ka-shing, who has a net worth of $47 billion based in part on stakes in Hong Kong-listed conglomerates CK Hutchison Holdings and CK Asset Holdings. Counting those billionaires outside the mainland, greater China has 610 members, up from 516 last year and 473 in 2024. In all, there are 3,428 billionaires on the planet, worth a collective $20.1 trillion.

While 23 Chinese citizens dropped off from last year, , including five deceased billionaires, there are 52 newcomers and 60 returnees, or members who made the list in the past, fell off and have now returned to the ranks. Besides Liu, MiniMax Group’s Yan Junjie also made his debut thanks to AI. The chairman and CEO of the Hong Kong-listed AI Model company has amassed a fortune of $7.2 billion, as his firm is among a cohort of Chinese upstarts seeking to challenge OpenAI and Nvidia amid Beijing’s efforts to build its own tech prowess.

Just last week, authorities reaffirmed support for sectors including AI, robotics and biotechnology during the national parliament meetings, hoping that they can become new growth drivers for an economy facing its slowest expansion in decades. The 2026 gross domestic product growth target has been set at a range of 4.5% to 5%—the lowest since 1991—amid challenges from lackluster consumption to geopolitical headwinds.

The ten richest Chinese citizens, meanwhile, are worth a collective $414.5 billion, up from $400.5 billion last year, and higher than $304 billion in........

© Forbes