Founder of ‘Nvidia of China’ Chen Tianshi triples wealth to over $24B

Cambricon, often referred to as the "Nvidia of China," in August reported its first-ever semiannual profit of 1 billion yuan ($140 million) since its 2020 IPO, with revenue surging more than 4,300% year-on-year to 2.9 billion yuan, according to Forbes.

In October, the company posted another strong quarter, highlighted by a 14-fold jump in revenue. It recorded a net profit of $79.6 million, compared with a net loss of $27.2 million a year earlier, a 1,332% spike, Fortune reported.

These explosive results have fueled a surge in Cambricon’s stock and boosted Chen’s wealth. The 40-year-old entrepreneur is now worth $24.6 billion, ranking as the world’s 93rd richest person and the 15th wealthiest individual in Forbes’ 2025 China’s 100 Richest list.

Chen Tianshi, founder and CEO of Chinese AI chipmaker Cambricon Technologies shows Cambricon chips. Photo from Facebook

The Shanghai-listed firm have been major beneficiaries of Beijing’s push to reduce reliance on foreign chips amid escalating U.S. export restrictions on advanced semiconductors. Bloomberg’s Rachel Yeo described Cambricon’s rise as "one of the starkest signs yet of how China’s chipmakers are benefiting from a national drive to replace restricted Nvidia Corp. gear during a domestic AI development boom."

Chen and his older brother, Chen Yunji, founded Cambricon in 2016 as a spinoff from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where both had worked as researchers. The brothers were graduates of the University of Science and Technology of China’s elite program for gifted youth, with Tianshi earning his bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 2005 and his doctorate in computer science in 2010, both before turning 25.

Cambricon went public on Shanghai’s STAR Market in July 2020, with shares surging 230% on debut. After seven consecutive years of losses, the company achieved its first quarterly profit in late 2024. Its clients include major Chinese firms in banking and telecommunications, using chips powerful enough to train and support AI models developed by Alibaba, DeepSeek, and Tencent, Business Insider reported.

However, challenges remain. Cambricon was added to the U.S. Entity List in December 2022, limiting its access to American technology and advanced manufacturing equipment. In August, the company cautioned investors that its share price was rising much faster than industry peers, admitting that its valuation may have diverged from underlying fundamentals.