The fortune of Liang Wenfeng, founder of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, more than doubled after the latest funding round of his company, making the Chinese businessman the richest founder in the world among AI model developers.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Liang's fortune now stands at $36 billion, up from about $16.7 billion previously, placing him far ahead of Anthropic co-founder Dario Amodei and OpenAI president Greg Brockman.

Bloomberg's comparison is based on companies whose core activity and most of their revenue come directly from AI models.

The list does not include diversified conglomerates such as Alibaba Group and Tencent, nor other companies operating in the AI supply chain, such as data centers and semiconductor companies, according to a Bloomberg report seen by Al Arabiya Business.

For Liang, most of his wealth stems from his control over DeepSeek.

Strong investment demand pushed DeepSeek's valuation to about five times its initial $10 billion valuation announced in April.

After the start-up raised $7.4 billion in a June funding round that valued the company at $50 billion and saw Liang personally invest $3 billion, his stake is estimated to have fallen to about 78%, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Who is Liang?

Liang was born in 1985 in the city of Zhanjiang, Guangdong province in southern China, where his father worked as an elementary school teacher.

He studied electronic engineering at Zhejiang University, a prestigious university in Hangzhou, where he also earned a master's degree in information and communication engineering.

Liang founded DeepSeek in 2023 as a spin-off from the AI division of his hedge fund, Zhejiang High-Flyer Asset Management, which he set up with two former classmates. The three had started trading during their studies during the global financial crisis.

Early on, High-Flyer used its substantial trading profits to stockpile advanced graphics chips before the tightening of U.S. export restrictions.

These early investments gave DeepSeek the computing power needed to develop its leading models without relying on traditional venture capital.

DeepSeek shocked the global tech sector in early 2025 when it launched a model that achieved performance comparable to its American rivals like OpenAI, but at a fraction of the cost.

The start-up continues to maintain this momentum, recently showcasing its latest model 'V4' and publicly announcing its compatibility with chips produced by Chinese tech firm Huawei.

What sets Liang apart from his peers in Silicon Valley is the large stake he has retained in the company.

In the United States, building a leading AI company worth $50 billion typically requires giving up large portions of ownership to tech giants and venture capital funds.

In contrast, Liang's retention of a stake of approximately 78% gives him a significant boost in personal wealth and control over the company, which is unusual among modern AI startup founders.

While American giants like OpenAI and Anthropic boast massive valuations approaching a trillion dollars, their ownership is more widely distributed among a larger number of investors or multiple co-founders.

Liang's $36 billion fortune makes him the eighth richest person in China, behind Chen Tianshi, an AI hardware billionaire and co-founder of Cambricon Technologies.

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