The Kobeissi Letter says new AI billionaires in the US and China added $87 billion in combined wealth in the first nine months of 2026
AI is generating massive fortunes in the US and China: The combined wealth of new US AI billionaire entrants rose +$44 billion in the first 9 months of 2026, to $132 billion. Over the same time period, the combined wealth of new Chinese AI billionaire entrants surged +$43 billion, to $89 billion. This metric tracks the combined net worth of people who newly entered the world’s 500 richest list in 2026 through AI-related businesses. This includes 12 billionaires from the US and 5 from China. As a result, the combined wealth of this group in the US and China soared +$87 billion, to $221 billion. AI is creating unprecedented amounts of wealth.
Context
The figures show how quickly AI is minting personal fortunes on both sides of the US and China race. The data comes from a market newsletter citing Bloomberg, and its chart and text do not fully agree.
The Kobeissi Letter is a widely followed markets newsletter. The metric tracks people who newly entered the world's 500 richest list in 2026 through AI related businesses. The post was published at 2:07 PM Eastern on October 24.
Deep dive
The Kobeissi Letter posted at 2:07 PM Eastern on October 24 that AI is generating massive fortunes in the US and China. It said the combined wealth of new US AI billionaire entrants rose $44 billion in the first nine months of 2026, to $132 billion, and that new Chinese AI billionaire entrants gained $43 billion, to $89 billion.
The newsletter says the metric covers people who newly entered the world's 500 richest list in 2026 through AI related businesses, 12 from the US and 5 from China. Together, it says, this group's wealth rose $87 billion to $221 billion. Kalshi separately posted that AI has created 17 new billionaires in the US and China this year, matching that count.
There is a mismatch in the post. The attached chart, which credits Bloomberg, shows the Chinese group at $82 billion on September 30, not the $89 billion in the text, and a starting value of $39 billion. The US bars, $88 billion rising to $132 billion, match the text. Readers should treat the exact Chinese figure as uncertain.
The post does not name the individuals. Wealth figures for founders of private AI companies depend on private funding round valuations, which can swing sharply, so these totals reflect paper wealth rather than cash.
What to expect next
These totals will move with the next private funding rounds and public listings. Anthropic's expected IPO and further raises at OpenAI, SpaceX and Chinese labs such as Moonshot and DeepSeek could add more names to the list by year end. Watch Bloomberg's own year end billionaire tallies for a cleaner count, and for whether Chinese AI wealth keeps pace with the US as Chinese labs raise large rounds.