Robin Li (Baidu)

Robin Li transformed from an engineer to the architect of China's AI future, building Baidu from a search engine into a $40 billion technology leader. Baidu handled over 60% of China's online searches in 2023, and its autonomous driving unit Apollo now has more than 500 self-driving taxis operating across 10 cities—30% more than runner-up Pony.ai's fleet. Li's bet on AI positions Baidu as the fastest-growing AI firm among the listed entrepreneurs, beating Lei Jun's Xiaomi in R&D spending per dollar revenue at 22% versus 18%. With Ernie, Baidu's large-language model, Li achieved 100 million users within three months of launch, a faster adoption than the average Chinese tech product's first-year targets.