Indian-origin billionaires lead US immigrant rich list: Who are Forbes 2026’s latest entrants?
India has emerged as the biggest birthplace of billionaire immigrants living in the United States, with 19 Indian-origin business leaders featuring on Forbes’ 2026 ranking of the country’s richest foreign-born citizens.The number marks an increase from 12 Indian-born billionaires on last year’s list, with seven new names joining the ranking. The new entrants include General Catalyst chief executive Hemant Taneja, Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar and Astera Labs co-founders Sanjay Gajendra and Jitendra Mohan.Israel and Taiwan followed India, with 11 immigrant billionaires each.Among the Indian-origin names, Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla ranked highest, with an estimated fortune of $13.9 billion. He was the 13th richest immigrant billionaire overall, while Tesla chief executive Elon Musk topped the ranking and Google co-founder Sergey Brin also placed ahead of him.Other prominent billionaires on the list include Zscaler chief executive Jay Chaudhry, IndiGo co-founder Rakesh Gangwal and software entrepreneur Romesh Wadhwani.Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and Alphabet chief executive Sundar Pichai also retained their places among the wealthy foreign-born citizens living in the US.Technology continued to be a major source of wealth for the new Indian-origin entrants. Taneja, who heads General Catalyst, was valued at $3.6 billion, with the firm’s investments in artificial intelligence companies, including Anthropic, contributing to the growth of his fortune.Sankar, who joined Palantir’s leadership as its chief technology officer, also entered the billionaire ranking as the company’s valuation and influence have grown.The 2026 ranking includes a record 144 immigrant billionaires living in the US, with a combined wealth of $2.2 trillion. Last year, 125 foreign-born billionaires on the list had a combined fortune of $1.3 trillion.
