Lin is the vice chairman of Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone maker that competes with Apple and Samsung. The Beijing-based company had revenue of 365.9 billion yuan ($50.8 billion) in 2024 from the sale of its smartphones, software applications and consumer electronics. Lin has previously been employed at both Microsoft and Google.
The majority of Lin's fortune is derived from a 9% stake in Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone maker.
The Beijing-based company had revenue of 365.9 billion yuan ($50.8 billion) in 2024 from the sale of its smartphones, software applications and consumer electronics. Lin has previously been employed at both Microsoft and Google.
He holds the shares through through family trusts and two US vehicles, according to Hong Kong stock exchange filings in November 2025. Lin donated 60 million shares to a family foundation in November 2021, and this stake has been removed from the net worth calculation.
A spokesperson for Xiaomi declined to comment on the net worth calculation.
Lin was born in February 1968 in Guangzhou, China. He graduated from Sun Yat-san University in 1990, and received a masters degree in computer science from Drexel University two years later.
He joined ADP Inc. as an internet engineer after graduating and left the company for Microsoft in 1999, according to Xiaomi's CDR prospectus in June 2018. Lin joined Google as vice president of Google China Institute of Engineering in 2006 and worked there for four years before co-founding Xiaomi with billionaire Lei Jun in 2010.
Xiaomi filed for an initial public offering in Hong Kong in May 2018.
Lin is a U.S. citizen according to the same Xiaomi prospectus. He lives in Beijing with his wife.