Elon Musk tops; Indian-American billionaire bags 10th spot

2 min readNew DelhiFeb 13, 2026 10:44 AM IST

Top 10 Greatest Innovators in the US 2026: Innovation has long been a driving force of economic growth and cultural change, and a defining feature of nearly every billion-dollar company.

The 2026 edition of Forbes’ 250 America’s Greatest Innovators, published on Wednesday, reflects that impact.

The report indicates that more than one-third of the 250 individuals are women and people of colour, with many being immigrants who have since obtained American citizenship, highlighting the diverse face of US entrepreneurship.

These innovators are ranked based on factors like creativity, breadth, engagement and commercial impact.

Elon Musk, who rose from modest beginnings, has been ranked No. 1 on America’s Greatest Innovators in 2026.

Musk is the only person who founded five companies across different sectors — Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI and The Boring Company — all with multibillion-dollar valuations.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, 61, ranks second, with the report crediting him for transforming the $7.4-trillion US retail industry, while also building Amazon Web Services, a dominant force in cloud computing.

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Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, and OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman also feature for their pathbreaking contributions to software, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence, respectively.

George Lucas is recognised for redefining filmmaking through his “Star Wars” franchise, while media entrepreneur Ted Turner is noted for launching CNN, the world’s first 24-hour news channel.

Indian-American businessman and venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, who founded Khosla Ventures and co-founded Sun Microsystems, is placed 10th on the list.

Top 10 Greatest Innovators in the US: 2026 Edition

1

Elon Musk

Age 54

Tesla, SpaceX, Neuralink, xAI, The Boring Company

2

Jeff Bezos

Age 61

Amazon, AWS, Blue Origin, Prometheus

3

Bill Gates

Age 70

Microsoft, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

4

George Lucas

Age 81

Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic, THX

5

Jensen Huang

Age 62

Nvidia

6

Sam Altman

Age 40

OpenAI

7

Phil Knight

Age 87

Nike

8

Martine Rothblatt

Age 71

SiriusXM, United Therapeutics

9

Ted Turner

Age 87

TBS, CNN, TCM

10

Vinod Khosla

Age 70

Sun Microsystems, Khosla Ventures

Source: Forbes’ 250 America’s Greatest Innovators: 2026 Edition

Indian Express InfoGenIE

Source: Forbes’ 250 America’s Greatest: 2026 Edition

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Cherry Gupta is an Assistant Manager – Content at The Indian Express. She leads the Top 10 section, curating list-based features on key national and international developments, and manages daily news content. She also produces SEO-driven articles and collaborates with the Lifestyle team to conduct interviews with notable artists and write workplace culture features. … Read More

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