China’s economic slowdown, driven by a deepening property crisis and declining household wealth, has eroded the fortunes of many of the country’s traditional tycoons. Yet, a new wave of billionaires is emerging from the nation’s rapidly expanding AI chip sector, defying broader economic headwinds. Among the standout figures is Chen Weiliang, chairman and co-founder of MetaX Integrated Circuits Shanghai, a GPU startup founded by former AMD executives. On its debut day on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market, MetaX’s shares surged as much as 755%, closing up around 700%. The meteoric rise propelled Chen’s stake in the company to an estimated $6.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, making him one of China’s fastest-rising tech moguls. Other early investors and co-founders, including co-CTOs Peng Li and Yang Jian, also saw their net worths soar, with stakes valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars, Bloomberg calculations show. This surge follows a broader trend in China’s semiconductor industry, where homegrown AI chipmakers are gaining momentum. Zhang Jianzhong, founder and CEO of Moore Threads Technology, saw his net worth climb to $4.3 billion after his company’s successful IPO earlier this month, further fueling investor excitement in the sector. The wealthiest figure in China’s AI chip space is Chen Tianshi, co-founder and CEO of Cambricon Technologies. Often referred to by retail investors as “China’s Nvidia,” Cambricon has become a symbol of the country’s push for technological self-reliance. Chen Tianshi is now worth $22.5 billion, ranking 16th on Bloomberg’s list of the richest people in China and 115th globally. The rise of these new tech billionaires is closely tied to a surge in domestic interest in AI. The release of the China-made DeepSeek-R1 model in January sparked a wave of enthusiasm for local AI innovation, triggering a rally in Chinese tech stocks. The Hang Seng Tech Index has gained more than 20% this year, driven in part by strong performance in AI and semiconductor names. U.S. export controls on advanced AI chips, particularly those from Nvidia, have also played a key role. Restrictions limiting China’s access to cutting-edge Western hardware have accelerated Beijing’s focus on building a self-sufficient semiconductor industry, creating a fertile environment for domestic chip startups. Despite the boom, China’s new AI billionaires still trail the country’s top-tier wealth holders. At the summit is Zhong Shanshan, the founder of Nongfu Spring, whose fortune stands at $68.1 billion. Tencent co-founder Pony Ma is second with $66.5 billion, a 38% increase this year fueled by Tencent’s AI-driven stock rally. ByteDance co-founder Zhang Yiming ranks third with $65.2 billion. While the new wave of AI chip wealth is reshaping China’s economic landscape, it also highlights a shift in the country’s innovation economy — where semiconductor and AI leadership is now a key driver of billionaire status, even as traditional industries face mounting challenges.