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Zhou Qunfei, who once earned $1.20 a day as a factory worker, is now China's richest woman
Zhou Qunfei, 56, is the founder of Chinese glass manufacturing giant Lens Technology and has reclaimed the top spot on the country’s richest women list.
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A former factory worker who dropped out of school as a teenager has become China’s richest woman, with an estimated fortune of 127 billion yuan (approximately ₹1.8 lakh crore). Zhou Qunfei, 56, is the founder of Chinese glass manufacturing giant Lens Technology and has reclaimed the top spot on the country’s richest women list.
Citing Hurun Richest Women in China 2026 list, The Independent reported that Zhou’s wealth increased by 15% over the past year, placing her ahead of Hansoh Pharmaceutical founder Zhong Huijuan. Zhong’s estimated fortune stands at 124 billion yuan (around ₹1.76 lakh crore).
Zhou previously held the title of China’s richest woman in 2015. Her journey from a school dropout and factory worker to billionaire entrepreneur has made her a prominent figure in China.
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From factory worker to billionaire entrepreneur
Born in 1970 in Hunan province, Zhou left school as a teenager and moved to Shenzhen in search of work. She began her career at a watch-glass factory, earning around $1.20 a day.
At the age of 23, she decided to start her own business and established a glass-processing workshop. She taught herself advanced screen-printing and curved-glass manufacturing techniques, which later became central to her business.
She went on to co-found Lens Technology, which grew into a major supplier of glass screens for smartphones. The company’s fortunes changed significantly after it began supplying glass covers for Apple’s first iPhones in 2007. According to the company’s prospectus, Apple accounted for nearly half of Lens Technology’s main business revenue between 2011 and the first half of 2014.
The company’s stock market listing in Shenzhen in March 2015 helped propel Zhou to the top of China’s women’s wealth rankings.
However, Zhou’s fortune faced a setback in 2018 when the US-China trade war and concerns over Apple’s sales contributed to a sharp fall in Lens Technology’s share price.
The company has since diversified beyond smartphones into electric vehicles, artificial intelligence-related hardware and robotics. Lens Technology is now among the companies looking to capitalise on China’s growing high-tech manufacturing sector, particularly in AI and robotics.
(Also Read: ‘Invisible labour crisis’: Domestic workers seen living out of cardboard boxes in one of world’s richest cities)
Meanwhile, according to Hurun, 65% of the 50 richest women in China are self-made, with their combined wealth reaching a record 1.93 trillion yuan.
Zhou and her husband’s combined fortune placed them 33rd on China’s overall Hurun Rich List, The Independent reported. The list was topped by ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming, whose estimated wealth stood at 670 billion yuan.
