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🟠 China: more billionaires than USA

🟠 China: more billionaires than USA

+ JD in the red

March 06, 2026

☕️ Good morning friends,

It's Friday, spring is slowly arriving, and a new issue of Asiabits in your inbox. And the best part? You don't need billions for any of this!

In today's issue:

China overtakes USA: 1,110 billionaires
Thailand flies medicine by drone to islands
Korean Air swallows Asiana

P.S. If you also want to understand how China dominates the robotics industry, you need to take an hour this weekend for Tuo Liu.

No one is as close to the global robotics scene as he is.

📺 YouTube
🎧 Spotify
🎧 Apple Podcasts

Record KOSPI rebound after record crash: One day after its worst-ever drop, South Korea's benchmark index surged +9.6%, the largest daily point gain in KOSPI history. Trigger: stabilizing oil prices and reports of Iran signaling willingness to engage in talks with the US restored risk appetite.

Samsung +11%, SK Hynix +11%, the tech-heavy KOSDAQ even +14%.

TOP BIT

China overtakes USA: 1,110 billionaires – record through AI boom

Thanks to a massive stock market surge and the global AI boom, the People's Republic once again counts more billionaires than any other country in the world.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk is flying in a league of his own: He is the first person in history to break through the $700 billion mark.

The great leap forward

The current Hurun Global Rich List 2026 shows unprecedented dynamics in global wealth creation. Worldwide, there are now over 4,020 billionaires – a new record. On average, two new faces were added per day last year.

China leads: With 1,110 billionaires (+287), China overtakes the USA (1,000). Impressive: Half of all new additions worldwide come from the Chinese economic area (Mainland, HK, Taiwan).

75% of Chinese billionaires were not on the list 10 years ago. "Going global" is paying off:

Industrial Products: 80+ new additions
Semiconductors: 18 new billionaires (chip self-sufficiency push)
Healthcare: 28 new additions, led by Au Yat-Gai (Regencell, $13 billion)
AI: Yan Junjie (MiniMax, $3.6 billion), Liu Debing (Zhipu, $1.2 billion)

Shenzhen (132) overtook Shanghai as the second-largest billionaire city after New York (146).

❝

"By 2030 we expect ten trillionaires – our forecast of one was far too conservative."

Hurun chief Hoogewerf

📊 All details & data: Hurun Report 2026, SCMP

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MARKET BIT

JD.com swings to loss: subsidy hangover meets $6.7B expansion costs

Illustration: Asiabits Visuals

JD.com reported Q4 numbers on Thursday that tell a stark story: instead of the 9.9 billion yuan profit from a year ago, there is now a net loss of 2.7 billion yuan ($391 million).

Revenue: +1.5% to 352.3 billion yuan ($50.4 billion), slightly beating analyst estimates.

The details

The core business of electronics and home appliances shrank by 12% compared with the same quarter last year.

The other side: General Merchandise grew by 12.1%, services revenue by 20.1%.

But the real cost driver sits elsewhere. JD.com’s new business areas, especially food delivery and the Europe expansion Joybuy, led to an operating loss of 14.8 billion yuan in Q4. In the same quarter last year it was 885 million yuan.

Free cash flow for the full year: only 6.5 billion yuan, after 43.7 billion the year before.

JD.com is nevertheless paying $1.4 billion in dividends and has spent $3 billion on share buybacks (6.3% of outstanding shares).

百亿补贴: The expensive copycat program

百亿补贴 (Bǎi Yì Bǔ Tiē), literally “10-Billion Subsidy”, was invented by Pinduoduo in mid-2019.

The idea: subsidize branded products like iPhones and AirPods directly on the platform to pull customers from Tier-1 cities away from JD and Taobao. Pinduoduo grew revenue by 65% as a result.

Founder Richard Liu copied the program under the same name, provided $1.4 billion, and built in a price comparison tool that shows live prices from Pinduoduo, Taobao, Douyin and Kuaishou, with double reimbursement if JD is more expensive.

The problem: Beijing’s trade-in subsidies, which still amounted to 300 billion yuan in 2025, were cut to 250 billion yuan for 2026, and subsidies for home appliances were also significantly restricted.

👉 Sources: Caixin, JD.com IR, Reuters

HIGHLIGHTS

🇨🇳 China targets fivefold increase in advanced chip output: SMIC, Hua Hong and Huawei-linked fabs are ramping up production of advanced semiconductors (7nm and below) from under 20,000 to 100,000 wafers within one to two years. By 2030, Beijing is targeting an additional 500,000 wafers. SMIC already builds 7nm-class chips for Huawei's Kirin and Ascend processors without access to ASML's EUV lithography.

🇰🇷 Korean Air absorbs Asiana: Hanjin Group chair Walter Cho reaffirmed the upcoming merger with South Korea's second-largest airline at Korean Air's 57th anniversary. The competition is no longer domestic but global carriers, Cho said. He acknowledged that some customers view the integration with concern and pledged stricter safety standards.

🇹🇭 Thailand tests medical drone deliveries to remote islands: In the coastal provinces of Krabi, Satun and Phangnga, Thai-built drones are trialing medicine and vaccine deliveries to island hospitals. Transport time drops from 120 minutes by boat to 15 minutes. Each route requires at least 30 validated test flights before regular service can begin. The program is funded by the Thailand Center of Excellence for Life Sciences.

🇻🇳 Viettel targets 6G launch by 2029: Vietnam's largest telecom operator has joined a global 6G alliance and plans to run initial test networks from 2028. Qualcomm COO Alkash Palkhiwala called Viettel "one of the most advanced teams globally." Vietnam's IT giant FPT is also joining the effort, focusing on autonomous drones and smart manufacturing. 6G is envisioned as an AI-native system integrating devices, networks and cloud infrastructure.

BEHIND THE BITS

Why are we so excited?

Because we're witnessing the new industrial revolution up close.

Robots in all shapes and sizes will become a fixed part of our everyday lives, that's no longer a question. Yesterday we got to visit Galaxea Dynamics, one of the companies building this future right now.

We'll visit them again on this year's robotics tours, and we promise you: you won't stop being amazed either.