NEW YORK – In 2019, Mr Chen Tianshi was a long way from becoming one of the wealthiest people on the planet. 

The largest customer for his three-year-old artificial intelligence chip startup, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei Technologies, had abruptly cut off almost all business in favour of developing its own semiconductors.

Until then, Huawei had been the source of over 95 per cent of the company’s revenue. 

But then he caught a break from an unexpected source. The US decision to cut off China’s access to cutting-edge chips and

Beijing’s determination to foster homegrown technology

ultimately created a halo of state sponsorship and a vast protected market for the computer prodigy’s company, which propelled him to become one of the world’s richest self-made billionaires.

Shares of his chip designer Cambricon Technologies have surged more than 765 per cent over the past 24 months.

His wealth, which is for the majority derived from his 28 per cent stake in the Beijing-based producer of AI accelerators, has more than doubled to US$22.5 billion (S$29.2 billion) since the beginning of 2025, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. 

Mr Chen’s meteoric rise underscores how China’s robust support for its domestic AI industry is minting a new class of state-aligned tech elites just a few years after it cracked down on its private-sector titans.

As Washington’s export bans choked China’s access to advanced chips, firms like Mr Chen’s Cambricon have emerged as national champions, shielded by policy mandates and investor zeal – symbols of a new industrial order where political favour, not market freedom, defines the winners.

Questions over how much the significant support from government protectionism has contributed t...