(Yicai) June 25 -- Zhang Yiming, the founder of TikTok's Chinese owner ByteDance, ranked as the wealthiest person on the 2025 New Fortune 500 Wealth Creation List for the first time, while DeepSeek's founder Liang Wenfeng debuted in the top 10th.

Zhang, 42, saw his shareholding market value reach CNY481.6 billion (USD67.2 billion), compared with CNY12 billion (USD1.7 billion) when he first appeared on the list in 2018, according to the new ranking released yesterday. Liang, 40, ranked 10th with a wealth of CNY184.6 billion.

Zhong Shanshan, the founder of Nongfu Spring and last year's wealthiest person, dropped to second this year. The influence of artificial intelligence has become the primary driving factor behind the wealth fluctuations of the top 10 Chinese private entrepreneurs.

The total wealth of the 500 entries reached CNY13.7 trillion (USD1.9 trillion) this year, up 11 percent from a year earlier. The threshold for entering the list was CNY6.6 billion (USD920 million). The average wealth of the entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial families was CNY27.4 billion (USD3.8 billion), with that of 341 exceeding CNY10 billion.

Zhang ranked third on the 2024 New Fortune 500 Wealth Creation List with a wealth of CNY340.2 billion, with ByteDance's application of AI technology contributing to the continued growth of his wealth. The firm owns three of the top 10 native AI applications in China, including Doubao, Dreamina, and Doubao Aixue.

The AI momentum has also significantly lifted the fortunes of Tencent Holdings founder Pony Ma, Alibaba Group Holding founder Jack Ma, and NetEase founder William Ding, keeping them in the top 10 on the list. Xiaomi founder Lei Jun ranked sixth after his wealth surged 96 percent to CNY201 billion from a year ago, mainly thanks to Xiaomi Auto sales.

The rest of the top 10 were PDD Holdings founder Huang Zheng, Contemporary Amperex Technology founder Zeng Yuqun, and Midea Group founders He Xiangjian and his family.

Billionaires in the chip industry are experiencing the fastest wealth growth, with the fortune of Chen Tianshi, founder of Cambricon Technologies, soaring 370 percent to CNY78.6 billion, claiming the top spot in the growth ranking for the second straight year.

Moonshot AI founder Yang Zhilin and iFlytek founder Liu Qingfeng debuted in the top 500 with a wealth of CNY9.4 billion and CNY8.3 billion, respectively.

Most entrepreneurs on this year's list were from the Technology, Media, and Telecommunications, pharmaceutical and biotechnology, and consumer goods industries. The number of those from the TMT sector rose 22 percent to 110, with their wealth reaching CNY3.34 trillion (USD465.9 billion), accounting for about one-quarter of the total.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev