I recently looked at the latest data on global wealth at the beginning of this year and was honestly amazed by the scale of capital concentration in the hands of technological innovators. What is happening with the personal fortunes of top entrepreneurs looks like a new era in the history of global capitalism.

Elon Musk holds the top spot with a truly fantastic margin — $726 billion. For context: that’s more than the GDP of most countries. The richest person in the world now owns a fortune that previously seemed impossible for one individual. His growth is fueled by the explosive rise of SpaceX, the expansion of Starlink, positions in Tesla, and influence in the artificial intelligence sphere with Neuralink. This is an unprecedented level of personal wealth.

Following him are other tech giants. Larry Page, one of Google's founders, ranks second with approximately $270 billion. Alphabet dominates in AI, and this is reflected in his wealth. Jeff Bezos is third with $255 billion — AWS continues to generate huge profits, and Amazon’s logistics network is expanding.

Next on the list are: Sergey Brin ($251 billion), Larry Ellison ($248 billion), Mark Zuckerberg ($233 billion), Bernard Arnault ($205 billion), Steve Ballmer ($170 billion), Jensen Huang ($156 billion), and Warren Buffett ($151 billion). Interestingly, most of these are founders or early investors in tech companies.

What drives this boom? Primarily — exponential growth around artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The semiconductor industry is experiencing a boom, space technologies attract mega-investments. The US completely dominates this segment of global capital. Plus — the long-term stakes of founders who didn’t sell their shares have fully paid off.

Looking at the world’s richest person and his trajectory is a good indicator of where big money is flowing. Technology, innovation, scalable business models — that’s what creates such fortunes by 2026. For investors, this is a signal to look for promising opportunities.