Asians Are Among Tech Industry’s Richest People, New List Reveals

While little over half on the list are from the United States, the second highest number of tech billionaires are from China. 19 individuals on the list account for $132.7 billion of the world’s wealth.

Of course, Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma tops the list with an estimated net worth of $25.8 billion. According to Forbes, Ma was one of the industry’s biggest gainers thanks to Ant Financial, an Alibaba affiliate now reportedly valued at $60 billion. His worth was up by $2.6 billion from last year.

Close behind Ma is Tencent founder and CEO Ma Huateng or Pony Ma. He was named the most generous Chinese philanthropist after donating $2.15 billion in April. Microsoft founder Bill Gates remained as the world’s richest tech person with an estimated fortune of $78 billion.

The United States had 51 members on the list. Canada was ranked third with five people, followed by Germany with four. Countries that completed the top ten were South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Israel and India. Singapore tied with the United Kingdom, Russia and Brazil with one individual on the list.

At the tail of 2015, Asian millionaires controlled more wealth than counterparts in North America, Europe and the rest of the world. They were worth $17.39 trillion, making them the richest on the face of the planet.