Zhou Qunfei, a 56-year-old entrepreneur who began her career as a factory worker and dropped out of school as a teenager, has been named China’s richest woman in the latest Hurun Richest Women in China 2026 list. Zhou, the founder of Lens Technology, a leading Chinese glass manufacturer, has an estimated personal fortune of 127 billion yuan (approximately £14.20 billion), marking a 15 percent increase from the previous year.

Born in Hunan province in 1970, Zhou left school early and moved to Shenzhen, where she worked in a watch-glass factory earning about $1.20 per day. By age 23, she launched her own glass-processing workshop, mastering screen-printing and curved-glass manufacturing techniques independently. This venture eventually evolved into Lens Technology, which supplies glass screens for smartphones, with Apple’s first iPhone models in 2007 significantly boosting the company’s prominence. Between 2011 and mid-2014, nearly half of Lens Technology’s revenue was generated from Apple, according to the company’s prospectus.

Lens Technology went public on the Shenzhen stock market in March 2015, an event that propelled Zhou to the top ranks of China’s wealthiest women. However, her fortune declined sharply in 2018 amid the US-China trade tensions and concerns over Apple’s sales, which negatively affected the company’s share price. In response, Lens Technology diversified into sectors such as electric vehicles, artificial intelligence-related hardware, and robotics. The company pursued a secondary listing in Hong Kong in July 2025 to support its expansion plans, though it remains exposed to fluctuations in consumer electronics demand and currency markets.

Zhou’s rising stature in China’s technology and manufacturing industries was highlighted during a state banquet in Beijing on 14 May, hosted by President Xi Jinping for then-US President Donald Trump, where she was seated between Apple CEO Tim Cook and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. At the 2026 Pujiang Innovation Forum, Zhou emphasized the importance of innovation throughout entire systems, beyond just computing power and algorithms, as the AI era advances.

The Hurun report noted that 65 percent of China’s 50 richest women are self-made, with their combined wealth reaching a record 1.93 trillion yuan (about £216.29 billion). Zhou and her husband’s combined fortune placed them 33rd on the overall Hurun Rich List, which is topped by ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, whose net worth is estimated at 670 billion yuan (approximately £75 billion). The annual Hurun rankings distinguish individual wealth of women separate from family or spousal assets, setting this list apart from the broader China Rich List.