ByYue Wang,
Senior Contributor.
Artificial intelligence has propelled fortunes of U.S. tycoons like Google parent Alphabet’s Sergey Brin and Nvidia’s Jensen Huang to stratospheric levels—and now it’s boosting Chinese moguls too. Wang Weixiu, founder of Zhongji Innolight, saw his own net worth jump 400% this year to $13 billion as demand for his company’s optical devices skyrockets.
Wang, who stepped down as Zhongji Innolight's chairman in 2023, still derives his net worth largely from a company stake, according to Forbes estimates. The 75-year-old had a fortune of $2.6 billion when Forbes measured his wealth for the World’s Billionaires List in March. Since then, Zhongji Innolight’s Shenzhen-listed shares have soared more than five times.
The surge recently minted a second billionaire from the company, which is based in Yantai, east China's Shandong province. Zhongji Innolight’s 54-year-old Chairman and CEO Liu Sheng has seen his own net worth reach $2.7 billion, largely based on the executive’s own company stake, according to Forbes estimates. Zhongji Innolight is preparing for a share sale in Hong Kong, the company announced in a November stock exchange filing. It plans to raise over $3 billion, according to Bloomberg News. The firm didn’t respond to requests for comment.
