Bloomberg "Top 20 Wealthiest Families in Asia 2026": Taiwan's Tsai Family ranks sixth, Samsung's Lee Jae-yong jumps to second place with HBM chips, and India's Ambani family remains the champion.

Bloomberg’s latest “Top 20 Richest Families in Asia 2026” list shows that overall wealth has increased by 16% annually to $647 billion, setting a record since the index’s inception, driven by supply chains for “AI infrastructure” such as chips, aluminum, and data centers.
(Background: Bloomberg: DeepSeek’s Rise is Strong, China Poses a “Huge Threat” to U.S. AI Dominance)
(Additional context: Bloomberg: Trump to Announce $70 Billion Investment Plan in AI and Energy, BlackRock to Join with $25 Billion)

Table of Contents

Toggle

• #1 Ambani Family (India) | $89.7 billion, No. 1 for two consecutive years
• #2 Kwok Family (Hong Kong) | $50.2 billion, Biggest Beneficiary of Real Estate Rebound
• #3 Lee Family (South Korea) | $45.5 billion, Jumped 7 Places with HBM Chips
• #4 Cheah Family (Thailand) | $53 billion, Betting on Southeast Asia AI Data Centers
• #5 Zhang Family (Shandong, China) | Aluminum demand explosion, stock price soaring
• #6 Tsai Family (Taiwan) | $34.3 billion, Only Taiwanese Family on the List
• #7–10: Energy drinks, tobacco banks, Indian conglomerates gather
• Those who sell shovels often get rich steadily

Bloomberg released the annual “Top 20 Richest Families in Asia” list yesterday (13th), with total wealth reaching $647 billion, a 16% increase from last year, the highest total wealth record since Bloomberg Billionaires Index was established in 2019, and the largest single-year growth.

The list shows that the main drivers of this wealth explosion are twofold:

First, explosive growth in demand for AI infrastructure, benefiting chips, memory, aluminum, and data center power systems.
Second, a clear rebound in Hong Kong’s real estate market after years of downturn.

Notably, Asian billionaires generally did not get rich by developing AI technology itself, but by positioning themselves in the “upstream supply chain” and “infrastructure” of AI to harvest wealth. In terms of regional distribution of the top 10, India leads with 3 families, followed by Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Indonesia, each with 1–2 families.

#1 Ambani Family (India) | $89.7 billion, No. 1 for two consecutive years

Led by Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries is India’s largest private enterprise, spanning oil refining, telecommunications (Jio platform), and retail. With a net worth of $89.7 billion, the Ambani family maintains the top spot in Asia for two consecutive years.

Jio Telecom has hundreds of millions of users in India, and its subsidiary Jio Financial Services is gradually entering the fintech space, building a vast digital ecosystem. Bloomberg notes that Reliance’s diversified portfolio demonstrates strong resilience amid market volatility.

#2 Kwok Family (Hong Kong) | $50.2 billion, Biggest Beneficiary of Real Estate Rebound

Sun Hung Kai Properties is Hong Kong’s largest real estate developer. The Kwok family directly benefited from the Hong Kong property market rebound in 2026, with wealth soaring to $50.2 billion. Besides residential development, Sun Hung Kai also holds telecom, hotel, and large shopping mall businesses, diversifying risks associated with a single market cycle.

Bloomberg’s list shows that with capital flowing back into Hong Kong and policy incentives, the real estate sector experienced a significant recovery between 2025 and 2026, making the Kwok family one of the biggest winners of this revival.

#3 Lee Family (South Korea) | $45.5 billion, Jumped 7 Places with HBM Chips

Led by Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong, the Lee family jumped from 10th place last year to 3rd, one of the most dramatic ranking changes on this list. The key behind this: Samsung’s breakthrough in AI memory chips.

As AI computing power demand skyrockets, HBM memory has become one of the most sought-after semiconductor components globally.

Last year, Lee Jae-yong also visited a small restaurant in Gangnam, Seoul, for fried chicken dinner with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang; he also met with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, actively consolidating Samsung’s position in the global AI supply chain.

#4 Cheah Family (Thailand) | $53 billion, Betting on Southeast Asia AI Data Centers

Founded in 1921, Charoen Pokphand Group was built from scratch by the Cheah brothers, evolving over four generations into a business empire spanning agriculture, retail (7-Eleven), telecommunications (True Corporation), and finance (holding shares in Ping An Insurance).

In the AI wave, the Cheah family is positioning itself at the forefront through its True IDC data center division. The list shows that True IDC has partnered with global asset manager BlackRock to invest $1 billion over five years to build AI supercomputing data centers in Thailand, aiming to make Thailand a Southeast Asian digital hub.

The 4th-generation successor, Korawad Chearavanont, only 31 years old, is raising $100 million in pre-IPO funding for his AI startup Amity, planning to go public by 2027, with succession and tech transformation happening simultaneously.

#5 Zhang Family (Shandong, China) | Aluminum demand explosion, stock price soaring

China Hongqiao, under Weiqiao Group, is one of the world’s largest aluminum producers, traditionally seen as a representative of heavy industry. However, with the advent of AI, this Shandong-based company unexpectedly became a beneficiary of technological wealth.

Bloomberg cites analysts: “Investors embrace aluminum for its scalability, light weight, and corrosion resistance, making it indispensable for server racks, data center cooling systems, and electric vehicles.”

China Hongqiao’s stock surged nearly 200% last year, making it one of the most remarkable gainers on this list, and the Zhang family’s wealth also rose accordingly.

#6 Tsai Family (Taiwan) | $34.3 billion, Only Taiwanese Family on the List

The Tsai family is the only Taiwanese family on this year’s list, with $34.3 billion, ranking 6th in Asia. This family, a prominent figure in Taiwan’s financial industry, traces its wealth back to Cathay Life Insurance, founded in 1962.

After a family split in 1979, two parallel branches formed: Tsai Wan-lin’s branch developed into today’s Cathay Financial Holdings, covering life insurance, commercial banking, and investment; Tsai Wan-tsai’s branch built Fubon Financial Holdings, extending into insurance, telecom (Taiwan Mobile), and real estate. Currently, brothers Tsai Ming-hsing and Tsai Ming-chung play core roles on the Fubon board.

Bloomberg’s list shows that the family’s steady wealth growth is due to diversified financial holdings, with valuations continuing upward amid interest rate cycles and a real estate rebound.

#7–10: Energy drinks, tobacco banks, Indian conglomerates gather

The 7th to 10th spots also feature notable families.

7th is the family of Suthipol Charoenphol of Thailand’s TCP Group, founders of Red Bull energy drinks, with brands in over 170 countries worldwide.

8th is the Huang family behind Indonesia’s Djarum Group and Bank Central Asia (BCA), with businesses spanning tobacco and finance.

9th is the Mistry family controlling Shapoorji Pallonji, an Indian conglomerate rooted in engineering and construction, holding assets like Ireland’s Sisk Group.

10th is the Jindal family from India, with OP Jindal Group prominent in steel and energy sectors, also benefiting from the demand for raw materials driven by AI infrastructure.

Steady wealth often comes from those selling shovels

This Bloomberg list reveals an interesting wealth logic: in this wave of AI gold rush, those who are truly steadily wealthy are often not the miners, but the ones selling shovels.

From Samsung’s HBM memory chips, China’s Hongqiao aluminum, to the Southeast Asian data centers of the Cheah family, top Asian families demonstrate a pragmatic wealth philosophy: positioning in the “electricity, materials, and computing” infrastructure needed for AI turns every capital expenditure of tech giants into a source of their own wealth growth.