Chen Tianshi (born June 1985) is a Chinese AI researcher and businessman. He is the CEO and co-founder of the artificial intelligence chip manufacturer

Cambricon Technologies Cambricon Technologies (Cambricon; ) is a partially state-owned publicly listed Chinese technology company headquartered in Beijing. The company builds core processor chips and general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) for use in the ...

. In May 2025, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' estimated his net worth at US$11.6 billion.

Biography

Chen Tianshi comes from Jianxi Province. His father is an electrical engineer and his mother is a history teacher. His talent was noticed early on, and as a teenager he and his brother Chen Yunji were accepted into a special program for gifted students at the

University of Science and Technology of China The University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) is a public university in Hefei, China. It is affiliated with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and co-funded by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Ministry of Education of the People' ...

. He earned a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

in 2005 and his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...

in 2010. His doctoral thesis received several awards. After completing his studies, he worked as a researcher for the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

and published more than 50 journal articles in renowned journals for computer science and artificial intelligence. In 2016, he was one of the co-founders of the semiconductor company Cambricon Technologies, which originated from a research project at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2017, Cambricon became a unicorn after investments from major Chinese technology companies such as

Alibaba Ali Baba is a character from the folk tale "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves". Alibaba Group is a Chinese multinational internet technology company. Ali Baba or Alibaba may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Films * ''Ali Baba and the Forty T ...

. The company went public in 2020. In 2024, Cambricon's share price had risen by 500%, benefiting from the Chinese government's increased efforts to become technologically independent from foreign countries in the semiconductor sector. This multiplied Chen's fortune, making him one of the richest people in China thanks to his stake in Cambricon.

References

1985 births Living people Chinese businesspeople University of Science and Technology of China alumni {{PRChina-business-bio-stub