Business leaders accompanying US President Donald Trump on his state visit to Beijing this week are the wealthiest delegation to visit China – with a combined personal fortune of more than $1 trillion – a sign of continued interest in the country’s lucrative markets despite strained relations between the two countries.
The members’ combined wealth exceeds US$1.07 trillion, according to data from Forbes and US Securities and Exchange Commission filings compiled by Quiver Quantitative, and each member has a significant business stake in the bilateral relationship.
Tesla and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk he leads the group with a personal fortune of 827 billion US dollars, including more than 77 percent of all members’ wealth.
Musk was seeking a license to sell the robot axis in China and also wanted to increase sales of his artificial intelligence robots there, said Arthur Kroeber, head of research at Gavekal Dragonomics, in a letter released Tuesday.
Huang ranks second, with a personal fortune of US$194 billion. His company, a world leader in the development of computer chips that use AI models, has had to deal with US restrictions on exporting high-end products that can be sold in the huge Chinese market.
While Washington allows the sale of Nvidia’s H200 graphics processing units in China – subject to a 25 percent surcharge paid to the US Treasury – it has banned the sale of the company’s highest-end models to Chinese customers.
