Xiang Guangda Net Worth

Xiang Guangda has an estimated net worth of $3.1 billion, according to Forbes Real-Time Billionaires, Xiang Guangda profile (figures as of October 20, 2026). That is up from $1.2 billion in 2020.

Xiang Guangda is a Chinese industrialist and the founder of Tsingshan Holding Group. He started out in 1980 as a mechanic at a state-run fishery company and later became director of its workshop. In 1986, he and relatives opened a workshop that made car windows and doors. He left his state job in 1988 to build the business full time, then shifted into stainless steel after a 1992 trip to Germany.

That move became the base of his fortune. His company was renamed Tsingshan in 1998 and grew by cutting production costs in stainless steel. The group later expanded into nickel, including mines and production complexes in Indonesia, plus plants in India and Zimbabwe. Xiang is now chairman of Tsingshan Holding Group, which also has interests in new energy. Forbes put his net worth at $3.1 billion on its real-time billionaires tracker as of October 20, 2026.

How Xiang Guangda built his wealth

Xiang made his money through metals, especially stainless steel and nickel. After leaving his state-owned job in 1988, he raised around USD 100,000 from friends and relatives to fund the business. A 1992 visit to Germany pushed him to move away from car parts and into stainless steel. Tsingshan then built its edge by lowering costs, including the use of nickel pig iron and rotary kiln furnaces for continuous production.

Tsingshan later spread that model across several countries. Under Xiang, the company invested in nickel mines in Indonesia during the 2000s and set up nickel and stainless steel production in Sulawesi at Morowali Industrial Park. It also opened plants in India and Zimbabwe. More recently, Tsingshan added new energy projects. Its battery unit Rept Battero Energy went public in Hong Kong in 2023, and the group has a $233 million lithium iron phosphate plant in Chile slated for 2025.

Forbes net worth timeline

Forbes first valued Xiang at $1.2 billion on its 2020 World's Billionaires List. By 2024, that estimate had climbed to $4.4 billion. In 2025, Forbes listed him at $3.7 billion, then at $4.2 billion on the 2026 World's Billionaires List. Those shifts tracked the value tied to Tsingshan, a major metals company with stainless steel, nickel and newer battery-related operations under the same group.

His current Forbes figure is lower than the 2026 annual list estimate. As of October 20, 2026, Forbes showed Xiang at $3.1 billion on its real-time billionaires tracker. The business behind that estimate is still broad. Tsingshan has overseas nickel smelting in Indonesia and is building a lithium iron phosphate plant in Chile, a material used to power electric vehicles. Those projects show how his wealth extends beyond stainless steel alone.