Chen is co-founder and chairman of Cambricon Technologies, a producer of artificial intelligence computing chips. The Beijing-based company sells chips, accelerator cards and related software, and had revenue of 1.2 billion yuan ($163.1 million) in 2024. It started trading publicly on the Shanghai stock exchange in 2020.
The majority of Chen's fortune is derived from his 28% stake in Cambricon Technologies, a Beijing-based intelligent terminal and chip producer. It had revenue of 1.2 billion yuan ($163.1 million) in 2024.
Chen owns the stake directly and through a 2% ownership in Beijing Aixi L.P., according to the company's 2025 third-quarter report.
Ye Haoyin, a spokesperson for Cambricon Technologies, didn't respond to a request for comment on the net worth calculation.
Chen was born in June 1985 in Nanchang city of Jiangxi province. His father is an electrical engineer and his mother is a history teacher.
He followed his brother's lead and was admitted to the School of the Gifted Young at the University of Science and Technology of China before completing high school studies. Chen received a bachelor's degree in mathematics at the age of 20 and a Ph.D. in computer science in 2010 from the same university.
Chen became a researcher at the government-funded Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2016. In the same year, he co-founded Cambricon Technologies on March 15 with the funding from the Academy.
In August 2017, Cambricon Technologies became a unicorn startup after receiving investments from the State Development and Investment Corporation, Alibaba, Lenovo and others.
The company became publicly traded on July 20, 2020 when it joined the Shanghai stock exchange.