Lee Chae-yoon Net Worth

Lee Chae-yoon has an estimated net worth of $1.4 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Lee Chae-yoon profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is down from a peak of $2 billion.

Lee Chae-yoon is a South Korean businessman and the founder and CEO of Leeno Industrial, a maker of semiconductor testing equipment. He was born on August 6, 1950, in Namhae County, South Gyeongsang Province, and Forbes describes him as self-made.

He graduated from Kwangsung Engineering High School in Busan in 1969. He founded his company nine years later, and continued his education while running it, graduating from Dong-Eui University in 1991 and completing an executive program at KAIST.

The company's name is a personal one. Lee formed it by combining his own surname with his wife's. As of 2024 he was Leeno's largest shareholder, with a 35% stake.

Lee's story is one of patience. He started his company in his twenties with only a high school education, kept studying while he ran it, and spent more than four decades building it before the market rewarded him with a billion-dollar fortune. He still leads the company today, well into his seventies, and remains its largest owner.

How Lee Chae-yoon made his money

Lee founded Leeno in 1978. Its main products are the IC Test Socket, which helps check that chips work, and the Leeno Pin, which helps find defects in chips and printed circuit boards. These parts are small, but every chip maker needs them to test what it produces.

The company listed on Korea's Kosdaq exchange in 2001. Leeno says it has more than 1,000 customers worldwide, including Nvidia, Samsung Electronics and the memory chip giant SK Hynix. Its products sit at a key step in the chip supply chain.

The artificial intelligence boom changed his fortunes. In 2024, as investors piled into AI-related stocks, Leeno's shares rose 70%, and that rally made Lee a billionaire after more than four decades in business. His story shows how a quiet parts supplier can benefit when demand for advanced chips takes off.

Leeno's customers include some of the most important names in chips, which means its sales track the health of the whole industry.

How Forbes has valued Lee Chae-yoon

Forbes listed Lee at $2 billion on the 2026 World's Billionaires List, his first appearance on the annual list.

As of October 20, 2026, the Forbes real-time billionaires tracker showed $1.4 billion. Because his wealth is tied to Leeno's share price, it moves with investor sentiment about the chip industry and AI spending.