From $7 a month to a $20 billion fortune: How Xiaomi founder Lei Jun repaid a student scholarship a thousandfold

He grew up in a family where his father, a teacher, brought home roughly $7 a month. Decades later, he stood at the helm of one of the world's best-known technology companies with a personal fortune Forbes estimates at more than $20 billion. The story of Lei Jun — founder, chairman and CEO of Xiaomi — is not simply one of wealth, but of a promise made on a university podium and kept more than three decades later.

A modest start in Hubei

Lei Jun was born in December 1969 in Xiantao, in China's Hubei province, and was raised in a modest household. As reported by TIME magazine, his father was a teacher who earned about $7 a month in the early 1980s — a detail that has since become one of the most frequently cited parts of Lei's early-life story.

An early curiosity in electronics eventually took him to Wuhan University, where he enrolled in computer science in 1987. Reflecting on those years in a 2023 speech at the university, Lei said: "I grew up in an ordinary family in a county town. When I was studying at Wuhan University, my family had a heavy burden, and I made up my mind to rely on myself to survive."

Four years of credits in two years

Lei's university years were financially difficult, and he worked hard academically while applying for scholarships to support himself. He was remarkably efficient: he completed all the credits required for a four-year undergraduate course in just two years, graduating in 1991 with a bachelor's degree in computer science, according to Xiaomi's official website.

One of those scholarships would stay with him for decades. According to Wuhan University's official records, Lei received a 2,000-yuan award — the university's highest scholarship at the time.

"I was particularly touched," Lei recalled. "I still clearly remember that when I was on the podium receiving the award, I secretly vowed: when I have the ability, I will return it tenfold, a hundredfold, or ten thousandfold."

From Kingsoft to Joyo.com — and then Xiaomi

After graduating, Lei entered the technology industry. According to Xiaomi's official profile, he joined the software company Kingsoft in 1992 and went on to hold several senior positions there. He also founded the online retail platform Joyo.com, which was acquired by Amazon in 2004.

His biggest venture was still ahead. In April 2010, at the age of 40, Lei founded Xiaomi. The company began with a focus on smartphones but expanded into a much broader technology ecosystem, growing into one of the world's major smartphone makers. Lei's personal wealth rose alongside it — Forbes listed his real-time net worth at $20.3 billion as of September 29, 2026.

Giving back long before the billions

Lei did not wait until he became a billionaire to repay his alma mater. According to Wuhan University, he made his first donation in 1997 — just six years after graduating, at the age of 27, while earning about 4,000 yuan a month. He established a scholarship at the university, initially called the Tengfei Scholarship and later known as the Lei Jun Scholarship.

His contributions continued for the next 26 years. The university says he supported several projects, including the Lei Jun Scholarship, the Lei Jun Science and Technology Building and a fund related to the Covid-19 response. His earlier donations to the institution totalled about 130 million yuan.

A 1.3-billion-yuan promise fulfilled

On November 29, 2023, Lei made his biggest contribution yet: a 1.3-billion-yuan cash donation to Wuhan University — worth about $182 million at the time, as reported by Forbes — the largest single individual donation in the university's history.

For Lei, the gift closed a circle that began on that student podium decades earlier. "From the beginning of my repayment journey 26 years ago, today I have finally fulfilled my wish," he said.

He has also spoken about the philosophy that drove him to build Xiaomi after years in the industry. In a 2015 commencement speech at Wuhan University, Lei said: "I cannot have regret in life regardless of success and failure."