This year, only tech billionaires are making money: the AI boom has boosted their net worth by $845 billion, with Musk accounting for nearly 40%.

The artificial intelligence boom is reshaping the global wealth landscape at an unprecedented pace.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, among the world's 500 richest people, approximately 100 tech billionaires saw their combined wealth increase by $845 billion in the first nine months of this year, a record high for the same period. Meanwhile, the combined wealth of non-tech billionaires shrank by $62 billion during the same period.

This wealth feast is highly concentrated at the top. Musk alone added $310 billion to his wealth in the first nine months, accounting for about 40% of the total increase in the index, and briefly became the world's first billionaire after his SpaceX and xAI merged and went public.

Since September 10, the world's ten richest people have all been from the United States—the first time this has happened since Bloomberg began tracking the data in 2012.

As we entered the fourth quarter, cracks began to appear in the prosperity. The combined wealth of the world's 500 richest people, which peaked at $13.4 trillion in mid-June, has fallen 6% to $12.6 trillion, and market skepticism about some leading AI concept stocks continues to rise.

The AI dividend is highly concentrated, with American tech billionaires dominating the market.

The wealth accumulated by tech billionaires far surpasses that of other groups. Tech billionaires, with a combined net worth of $4.6 trillion, represent only about one-fifth of the index's members, yet contribute 36% of the index's total wealth. American billionaires account for 94% of the index's net wealth increase this year.

The most direct beneficiaries of the AI boom are the leaders of large technology companies.

Dell founder Michael Dell's wealth grew 81% this year to $254 billion, thanks to the explosive expansion of his data center sales business. Meta's stock price rose 27% in September—its best monthly performance in nearly four years—adding $23 billion to Mark Zuckerberg's net worth.

Nine of the world's ten richest people derive their wealth from U.S. technology companies. This is the first time such a pattern has been observed in Bloomberg's tracking, reflecting the profound reshaping of the market capitalization of U.S. tech giants by the AI industry.

Cracks have appeared, and some AI betting has suffered a backlash.

The debt-fueled frenzy by major tech companies to support their AI ambitions is beginning to unsettle some investors.

Oracle's case is the most typical. Larry Ellison's wealth surged by $89 billion in a single day in September 2025, briefly making him the world's richest person. However, a year later, his net worth had shrunk by $196 billion.

Data cited by Bloomberg shows that Oracle's credit default swap spread is currently hovering near historical highs, reflecting market concerns about the company's massive borrowing to support the construction of AI infrastructure.

The broader market downturn has also slowed wealth growth. The combined wealth of the world's 500 richest people has declined by approximately $800 billion since its peak in June, against the backdrop of a general market slowdown and escalating doubts about the sustainability of growth in leading AI concept stocks.

New elites emerge, and the wealth effect of AI spreads to the entire industry chain.

Despite fluctuations at the top of the wealth ladder, this AI feast continues to create new billionaires for a wider range of entrepreneurs and supply chain companies.

All seven co-founders of Anthropic entered the rich list after the company completed a funding round in June valuing the company at $965 billion. Founders of Chinese AI companies also benefited, with MiniMax co-founder Yan Junjie and DeepSeek founder Liang Wenfeng both newly added to the list.

The AI infrastructure boom is also benefiting entrepreneurs upstream in the supply chain.

Lin Tsung-chi, founder of Chuanhu Technology, a manufacturer of server rail and cable management systems, made his debut on the list this year with a net worth of $9.5 billion after nearly 40 years of entrepreneurship. Wang Xin, chairman of Guangdong Ditai Technology, also made the list due to the surge in demand for circuit board drill bits driven by AI. Morris Chang, founder of TSMC, and Ming-kai Tsai, chairman of MediaTek, also joined the list this year.

Boo-jin and Seo-hyun, two heirs to Samsung Electronics' Lee family fortune, also made the list after rising stock prices helped the family pay more than $8 billion in estate tax left by former chairman Lee Kun-hee after his death in 2020.

The technological competition between China and the United States has also given rise to a number of new faces: the Zou Zhinong family of Suzhou Tongguang Group and Yuan Fugen of Suzhou Dongshan Precision Manufacturing have also appeared on the list.

The widening gap between rich and poor has fueled calls for a wealth tax.

This wealth feast is sparking deeper policy and social discussions. California voters will vote in November on a wealth tax for the state's billionaires, while Washington, New York, Illinois, and Rhode Island are also discussing new taxes for high-net-worth residents.

The trend of the wealthy becoming younger and more tech-savvy is also challenging traditional assumptions about a "great transfer of wealth."

James Mazeau, an economist at UBS's Chief Investment Office, said, "We often talk about a massive wealth shift—but for the top 100 or 1,000 richest people, many of them are young tech entrepreneurs. I'm curious to see to what extent this will drive further concentration of wealth."

As the AI investment cycle enters a more complex phase, tensions are building between debt levels and return rates. How far this restructuring of the wealth landscape can go may depend on whether AI commercialization can justify its current valuation premium.

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