The rise of AI boosts the fortunes of tech billionaires, a record $845 billion this year

2026 is a year of great success for the tech billionaires of the world. The statistics also say that.

The Economic Times analyzed data from the Bloomberg Billionaires Index and showed that this year, the combined wealth of about 100 of the world's 500 richest people in the technology sector increased by 845 billion or 84,500 billion dollars as of September 30. This is a new record for the wealth growth of tech billionaires in the first 9 months of the year.

It shouldn't be too difficult to understand why the fortunes of the tech rich have grown so much. Then comes the topic of artificial intelligence or AI. The growth of the AI ​​sector and especially the increase in the share prices of technology companies in the US stock market - this is the main reason for this increase of the rich in the technology sector.

Currently, the combined wealth of technology sector billionaires is 4.6 trillion or 460 billion dollars. Among those ranked in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, one-fifth are from the technology sector, but they account for 36 percent of the index's total wealth.

However, the wealth growth gap between tech billionaires and others is quite clear. The combined wealth of those billionaires who have done business in other sectors outside the technology sector is 62 billion or 6 thousand 200 million dollars at this time. Again, as much as the total wealth has increased, 94 percent of it has increased for the richest people in the United States. As of September 10, according to Bloomberg, the top 10 richest people in the world are all US citizens. This is the first time since Bloomberg began tracking the wealth of the billionaires in 2012.

As total wealth has increased, most of it has been concentrated in the hands of the top rich. The wealth of Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, increased to 310 billion or 31 trillion dollars by the end of September. About 40 percent of the increase in the total wealth of the wealthy in Bloomberg's index has been thanks to Musk's increase in wealth. He became a trillionaire again on Monday.

The combined wealth of the world's 500 richest people rose to a maximum of 13.4 trillion 1.34 trillion dollars in mid-June. After that, it fell by 6 percent to 12.6 trillion or 1.260 billion dollars due to increasing uncertainty about the future of some big companies in the global market and AI sector.

9 of the world's top 10 richest people are from the US technology sector. Dell Technologies founder Michael Dell's wealth rose 81 percent this year to $254 billion or $25,400 million. The big jump in wealth came as his company's data center business grew rapidly.

This year Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg's wealth increased by 23 billion or 2 thousand 3 billion dollars. Meta Platforms shares rose 27 percent in September—the company's worst period in nearly four years. The surge in Matera shares comes after the launch of Muse, a new personal assistant based on artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, investors are increasingly worried about the huge debt that big tech companies are taking to expand their AI-based businesses. In September 2025, Larry Ellison briefly became the richest man in the world. His wealth increased by 89 billion or 8 thousand 9 billion dollars in one day of service. Oracle's share price rose after forecasts of rapid growth in its AI-related cloud infrastructure business. As a result, his asset value skyrocketed.

However, after one year, Ellison's wealth decreased by 196 billion or 19 thousand 6 billion dollars. At the same time, investor concerns about Oracle's debt risk grew. Investors are increasingly worried about Oracle's risk of default. As a result, the cost of protecting the company against default has risen to near-record highs.

Not only founders or executives of big tech companies are getting rich with the rise of AI, but entrepreneurs of companies that provide AI infrastructure are also becoming rich. Seven of its co-founders have joined Bloomberg's Rich List after Anthropic's valuation reached $9.65 billion. The founders of China's Dipsic and Minimax have also capitalized on the rise of AI.

Meanwhile, as the demand for servers, chips and data center equipment needed to manage AI increases, related company owners in Taiwan and China are also benefiting. The family of heirs to Samsung and top figures from TSMC and MediaTek have also been added to the list. In other words, the rise of AI is creating new billionaires in the technology supply chain.