The wealth of the world’s richest people active in the technology sector grew at a record pace in the first nine months of this year.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, the combined wealth of billionaires representing the technology sector increased by $845 billion through September 30. This is the largest increase recorded for the first nine months of a year in the index’s history.
Tech billionaires now hold $4.6 trillion
Currently, in the list of the world’s 500 richest people, the combined wealth of about 100 billionaires representing the technology sector has reached $4.6 trillion. This amounts to 36% of the total wealth of index participants. Yet tech entrepreneurs make up only one-fifth of the list.
The main driver of wealth growth was investor interest created by the AI boom and especially the rise in shares of US technology companies.
Billionaires who gained wealth outside the technology sector lost a total of $62 billion in the same period. According to the index, 94% of the total wealth increase went to American billionaires.
It also stands out that, as of September 10, all of the world’s 10 richest people are US citizens. This is the first time such a situation has occurred during Bloomberg’s observations since 2012.
Elon Musk’s wealth rises by $310 billion
The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, increased his wealth by $310 billion according to September results. This amount equals about 40% of the total wealth increase of technology billionaires.
After SpaceX merged with Musk’s AI company xAI and went public in June, the billionaire briefly became the world’s first trillionaire.
Michael Dell, Mark Zuckerberg and AI-linked gains
The expansion of Dell Technologies’ equipment business for data centers significantly increased Michael Dell’s wealth. His wealth rose 81% this year to $254 billion.
Meta Platforms shares rose 27% in September. Against the backdrop of the company introducing its new personal AI assistant “Muse,” Mark Zuckerberg’s wealth increased by $23 billion since the beginning of the year.
At the same time, the total wealth of the world’s 500 richest people reached a record $13.4 trillion in mid-June and then fell 6% to $12.6 trillion. The general market weakening and growing concerns about the financial prospects of some large AI companies played a role in this decline.
New billionaires join the index
The rapid development of the AI sector has also caused new billionaires to enter the list.
All seven co-founders of Anthropic joined the ranks of the world’s richest people in June after the company completed a funding round that valued it at $965 billion.
The list also added Yan Junze, founder of China’s MiniMax Group, and Liang Wenfeng, creator of DeepSeek.
The wealth of Lin Chun-chin, founder of Taiwan’s King Slide, which produces server rails and cable management systems for data centers, reached $9.5 billion this year.
Wang Xin, chairman of Guangdong Dtech Technology, also entered the billionaires index. The rapid development of the AI sector increased demand for the special drilling equipment used in the assembly of printed circuit boards at his company.
Samsung heirs and an $8 billion inheritance tax
Increased demand for Samsung Electronics memory chips had a positive effect on the wealth of two heirs of the company’s main shareholder family — Boo-jin and Seo-hyun. The rise in Samsung shares allowed the family to pay the $8 billion inheritance tax that arose after the death of former Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee in 2020.
US wealth tax debate returns
The rapid growth of billionaires’ wealth has also brought the issue of taxing wealthy people in the US back onto the agenda.
In November, California residents will vote on imposing a wealth tax on billionaires in the state. Washington, New York, Illinois and Rhode Island are also discussing introducing new tax mechanisms for high-wealth residents.
James Mazo, an economist at UBS Group’s chief investment office, believes that amid discussions about wealth redistribution, the presence of traditional business owners and young technology entrepreneurs on the same billionaires list is a notable trend.
According to him, one of the main questions is to what extent this process will affect further concentration of wealth in the future.
