• China's AI chip boom is minting billionaires at breakneck speed, even as the economy sputters.
• Surging investor interest in domestic AI and semiconductor stocks is driving rapid wealth gains.
• US chip bans are supercharging China's homegrown AI champions.

China's deepening property crisis has crushed household wealth and dented the fortunes of some of its biggest tycoons — but a new class of AI-era billionaires is rising fast.

This year, the standout winners are coming from China's red-hot AI chip sector.

On Wednesday, shares of MetaX Integrated Circuits Shanghai — a GPU startup founded by former AMD executives — skyrocketed as much as 755% on their first day of trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange's tech-focused STAR Market, before closing up about 700%.

The surge catapulted its chairman and cofounder, Chen Weiliang, into one of China's fastest-rising tech moguls. Chen's stake in MetaX is worth about $6.5 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Other early insiders also saw eye-popping paper gains.

MetaX's other two cofounders and co-chief technology officers, Peng Li and Yang Jian, hold stakes worth hundreds of millions of dollars after the blockbuster debut, according to Bloomberg's calculations.

China's AI rush

Chen's rise follows that of another GPU entrepreneur, Zhang Jianzhong, the founder and CEO of Moore Threads Technology.

Earlier this month, Zhang's net worth jumped to $4.3 billion after his company's successful IPO, continuing a wave of investor enthusiasm for homegrown semiconductor players.

The richest figure in China's AI chip scene is Chen Tianshi, a cofounder and CEO of Cambricon Technologies — a company retail traders have dubbed "China's Nvidia."

Cambricon's Chen is now worth $22.5 billion, making him the country's 16th-richest individual on Bloomberg's list. He is the 115th richest person in the world.

These new fortunes reflect a sharp shift in investor sentiment.

Chinese AI and semiconductor stocks have been on a tear since the breakout of the China-made DeepSeek-R1 AI model released in January. The model helped spark a rally in local tech names and pushed the Hang Seng Tech Index up more than 20% so far this year.

Washington's tightening export controls on advanced Nvidia chips also contributed to the boom.

Such restrictions on high-end AI processors have choked China's access to cutting-edge US hardware and pushed Beijing to lean harder on domestic suppliers.

Still, China's new AI billionaires remain far from the top of the country's wealth rankings. The upper tier is still dominated by long-established tycoons.

In the top spot is Zhong Shanshan, the low-key bottled-water magnate behind Nongfu Spring, with a fortune of $68.1 billion, per Bloomberg.

Pony Ma, a cofounder and CEO of Tencent, ranks second with $66.5 billion — a fortune up 38% this year, on the heels of Tencent's AI-induced rally — while ByteDance cofounder Zhang Yiming comes in third with $65.2 billion.

• Russia published new statistics and figures on Wednesday on its side of the war in Ukraine.
• These include new figures on its war spending and the number of new soldiers it has recruited.
• While not necessarily reliable, the statistics shed light on the Kremlin's goals and ambitions.

Russia's defense ministry broadcast its wide-ranging annual review on Wednesday of the Ukraine war, providing clues about its military goals and performance this year.

Andrei Belousov, the Russian defense minister, presented the official statistics during the Defense Ministry Board's expanded meeting in Moscow.

Business Insider could not independently verify the defense ministry's claims, which often differ significantly from those of international observers. Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, said at the meeting that the Kremlin's troops were "crushing" Ukraine, despite the war dragging on for nearly four years.

The disclosures also come as Russia has sought to project strength and demanded heavy concessions from Ukraine while negotiating potential peace terms with the Trump administration.

However, Belousov's presentation offers insight into Russia's ambitions for the war and its official narratives surrounding how it fights and plans to fight next year. Several new official figures were also announced.

Here are 10 highlights from Belousov's end-of-year review.

1. Russia's war budget is about $138 billion

Belousov said that Russia's war spending is on track to reach about 5.1% of the country's GDP in 2025, out of an overall defense budget that reaches 7.3% of its annual GDP.

The country's nominal GDP in 2024 was about 201.2 trillion rubles, and is expected to grow 1% this year to about 203 trillion rubles, or $2.52 trillion.

Russian independent media, however, reported that the economic ministry has forecast a GDP of about $2.7 trillion for the year.

A war budget of 5.1% would therefore be somewhere between $128 billion and $137.7 billion.

This is the first time Russia has publicly disclosed the amount that it spends specifically on the war. Previously, the Kremlin only announced figures for total defense spending.

The US, by comparison, is planning to spend $901 billion on its military, or about 3.4% of its GDP.

2. Doubling down on motorcycle and quad bike assaults

Belousov said that his ministry delivered roughly 38,000 motorcycles, buggies, and all-terrain vehicles to its troops on the front lines in 2025.

"This is 10 times more than last year," he said, adding that Russia plans to reach "full strength" in these vehicles next year.

Russian troops have increasingly been using motorcycles, quad bikes, and other small, unarmored vehicles to assault or approach Ukrainian positions, trying to use their speed and small size to avoid drone attacks.

Ukrainians have also adopted the tactic, with one regiment even establishing an official motorcycle attack company in May.

3. 409,000 new contract soldiers

Belousov said that Russia hired 409,611 new contract soldiers in 2025, down from 449,243 in 2024.

However, that already exceeds the Kremlin's 403,000 person recruitment goal for the year.

"Nearly two-thirds of them were young men under 40," Belousov said of the new recruits. "More than a third have higher or specialized secondary education."

Ukraine and Russia have both been hard-pressed to fill their ranks as Moscow pressures Kyiv's forces with a continuous grind of frontal infantry assaults.

To maintain its flow of troops, Russia often entices recruits with hefty sign-on bonuses or pardons for crimes committed in the country.

4. FPV drones dominate Russia's hits

Belousov said that about 50% of Ukrainian casualties from Russian attacks come from first-person-view drones, or FPV drones. These are the small quadcopters mounted with explosives that have become a hallmark of the war.

In the summer, Russia said that it was outproducing Ukraine on FPV drones, though Kyiv's officials have since said their country has caught back up.

Ukrainian leaders have said that 70% of all casualties inflicted during the war involved FPV drones.

5. Making a whole new FPV drone force

Belousov said that Russia plans to create a new drone formation called the Unmanned Systems Forces next year, which would train "tens of thousands" of people.

Russia has already created an official drone unit called Rubicon, which was formed last August to prioritize fighting with FPV drones and has often been described as fielding its most elite pilots.

Now, Moscow appears to be trying to make such warfare an official pillar of its fighting force.

Belousov said the Kremlin needed to transition FPV drone attacks from individual tasks carried out by each unit to "integrated joint operations" among its forces.

Ukraine launched its own Unmanned Systems Forces last year, appointing the previous commander of the elite unit, Magyar Birds, as its leader.

6. 27,000 drones over Russian territory

Roughly 27,400 Ukrainian long-range drones were intercepted this year over Russian territory, with the bulk appearing after the summer, Belousov said.

Belousov said that Ukraine initially began sending about 1,000 drones a month into Russia, but that the monthly number began hitting 3,700 by May.

The defense minister claimed that Russia's interception rate "averages 97%" for the year.

Ukraine has typically used fixed-wing drones to attack deeper into Russia, targeting what it says are oil and gas facilities and military production sites.

Notably, Belousov mentioned that Russia has also been exploring FPV drones that can serve as high-speed interceptors, a technology that Ukraine has been refining to counter Moscow's Shahed waves.

7. Russia received two modern strategic bombers

Belousov said that Russia received two Tu-160Ms, which are modernized, supersonic bombers that can deploy nuclear weapons or powerful stealth missiles.

That's a clue about the production rate of the bombers, which are part of a small fleet that forms a vital pillar of Russia's nuclear triad. Several of Russia's older bombers were reported severely damaged in Operation Spiderweb, an audacious Ukrainian drone attack in early June that targeted a fleet of about 41 warplanes.

Ukrainian sources claimed that several Tu-160s were also hit, although this was not confirmed by independent open-source intelligence at the time.

8. Russia created 30 new regiments, with 39 more planned

Russia's military also appears to be modifying its organizational structure.

Belousov said that the Kremlin had created five new divisions, 13 new brigades, and 30 new regiments in 2025. International think tanks estimate that Russian divisions can consist of between 10,000 and 20,000 troops, while regiments within typically have about 2,000 soldiers and are further split into battalions.

Brigades, which typically exist as a separate formation, often have about 3,500 to 4,500 troops.

Belousov said this new structure included a new division, called the Aerospace Forces, which has a regiment "equipped with the unique S-500 antiaircraft missile system, capable of striking targets in near space."

Next year, the Kremlin plans to add four more divisions, 14 brigades, and 39 new regiments, he added.

Some of these figures encompass formations that Russia has transformed, so they aren't necessarily an indicator of how widely Russia is expanding its military organization structure. For example, Belousov said two marine brigades were turned into a single division.

9. Drone deliveries by air and land

Belousov said that Russia had expanded its use of drones and all-terrain vehicles to deliver gear from a "one-time operation" in 2024 to carrying 12,000 tons of cargo this year to the front lines.

"By 2026, this figure must be at least doubled," he said.

Both Ukraine and Russia have been developing uncrewed ground vehicles, or ground-based drones, that can be remotely operated to deliver supplies to the front line or even conduct assaults.

The emerging technology is especially useful for dangerous tasks that would otherwise have to be filled by a human soldier.

Some military units have also reported using drones to deliver equipment by air, such as one Ukrainian commander who said his forces used drones to send an e-bike to a stranded soldier.

10. Russia is targeting Ukraine's energy grid

Belousov's presentation made it clear that Russia has been conducting precision strikes against Ukraine's power facilities.

More than 70% of Ukraine's thermal power plants and 37% of its hydroelectric plants have been disabled, Belousov said.

"The effectiveness of Russian precision strikes is about 60%, which is an order of magnitude higher than the effectiveness of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory," Belousov said.

"Ukraine's energy capacity has been reduced by more than half," he added.

Attacking energy infrastructure is a war crime if it's found to be intentionally carried out to cause harm to civilians. Ukraine's besieged power grid is especially crucial, as it's essential for keeping its citizens warm during harsh winters.

Belousov said the strikes on energy facilities were targeting the Ukrainian military, and that disabling the grid cut off power to Kyiv's forces.

However, the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said last September that Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid were found to be severely affecting civilians and had "disproportionately impacted" vulnerable groups.

Ukraine also carries out attacks on Russian oil and gas facilities, though it said its aim is to cripple Moscow's ability to export energy and sustain war production.

• Microsoft AI CEO says a huge price tag is needed for keeping up with frontier AI.
• "We're absolutely pushing for the frontier," Mustafa Suleyman said.
• His comments come as other tech leaders have spoken about the staggering cost of chasing AGI.

Microsoft AI CEO says there's a huge price to pay for staying in the AI game.

Mustafa Suleyman said in an episode of the "Moonshots with Peter Diamandis" podcast published Wednesday that it's going to cost "hundreds of billions of dollars" to compete at the frontier of AI over the next five to 10 years.

"Not to mention the prices that we're paying for individual researchers or members of technical staff," he added.

Suleyman compared Microsoft to a "modern construction company," where hundreds of thousands of workers are building gigawatts of CPUs and AI accelerators.

The scale of investment that is required is huge, and "clearly there's a structural advantage by being inside a big company," he said.

Microsoft, which has a market capitalization of $3.54 trillion, brought in $77.7 billion in revenue for the quarter ending in September, surpassing analysts' estimates.

Suleyman said his mission is to make Microsoft "self-sufficient" in developing its frontier models and to build "an absolutely world-class superintelligence team."

"We're absolutely pushing for the frontier," Suleyman said. "We want to build the best superintelligence and the safest superintelligence models in the world."

Suleyman said last month that his team is "trying to build a humanist superintelligence" — one that is aligned with human interest.

With the high cost required to keep up with AI, Suleyman said on the podcast that "it's hard to say" if startups could compete with Big Tech.

"The ambiguity is what's driving the frothiness of the valuations," he said. "If suddenly we do have an intelligence explosion, then lots of people can get there simultaneously."

The high cost of AI

Microsoft is one of several tech giants chasing artificial general intelligence, or superintelligence, and executives across the industry have been blunt about how expensive that pursuit will be.

Artificial general intelligence, or AGI, refers to AI systems that can match human intelligence across most tasks. Superintelligence goes a step further — systems that surpass human abilities.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in September he'd rather risk "misspending a couple of hundred billion" than fall behind in superintelligence.

If superintelligence arrives earlier than expected and a company moves too slowly, it'll be "out of position on what I think is going to be the most important technology that enables the most new products and innovation and value creation and history," Zuckerberg said.

Billions of dollars have also been poured into AI data centers. In recent months, Big Tech firms like Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Amazon have ramped up spending on cloud and compute infrastructure to train and run frontier models.

• Zooey Deschanel, 45, says she doesn't let her two kids see her insecure.
• That's because kids "get their self-esteem from their parents," the actor said.
• Although Hollywood can be brutal to women, she says she tries not to let comments about her appearance affect her.

Zooey Deschanel, 45, says she's mindful of how she shows up around her kids.

On Thursday's episode of "Call Her Daddy," the "Elf" actor spoke about being bullied as a child and how it shaped her identity and her approach to parenting.

Though she still has moments of insecurity, Deschanel says she doesn't let her kids see them.

"I have a daughter and a son, and I don't want them to ever think like, 'Oh, Mommy's insecure,' or, you know, like, 'My mom doesn't like…'" Deschanel told host Alex Cooper.

"I always want them to think I'm happy with myself and, like, because they get their self-esteem from their parents, you know. So yeah, it's important to me to, like, show up with confidence," she said.

Deschanel shares two children with her ex-husband, Jacob Pechenik. The pair split in 2019 after four years of marriage.

The actor said she's aware that Hollywood can be brutal to women when it comes to their appearance, but says she tries not to let that kind of commentary affect her.

What's important is having a strong sense of self, she said.

"My identity was never super wrapped up in my appearance. I always made an effort to be like, what I'm presenting is more about my style and like, artistic and creative expressions versus, 'Oh, like I'm so just naturally perfect,'" Deschanel said.

"All those things are so ephemeral and, you know, they change, and they're subjective. And so I think not having my identity so wrapped up in what I looked like when I was 25 is really great," she said.

Deschanel says she tries to be fully present with her kids whenever she isn't working, including doing school drop-offs and pickups, taking them to playdates, and attending their extracurricular activities.

When she is working, she focuses on attending the important events.

"I get that sometimes you can't, but try to get there for like, whatever, the big game or the school play or like those big things, because those are the things they remember a lot," Deschanel said.

Deschanel joins other celebrities talking about how they try to instill confidence in their kids.

Speaking to People in 2024, Carson Daly said he's honest about his own struggles with his kids and treats them like adults so they feel safe discussing difficult topics with him.

"I've always talked to them like they were 30 years old," Daly said.

In May, Kate Winslet's daughter, Mia Threapleton, told Elle that her mother tried to instill body confidence in her from a young age, including when she was insecure about showing her shoulders while swimming.

"My mom said: 'No, this is strong. So many people would love to be able to swim the length of the pool the way you do — think of it as a positive thing,'" Threapleton said, recalling her mother's words.