AMD to Acquire World Labs for $8.2 Billion
The all-stock acquisition of Fei-Fei Li's AI startup will expand AMD's capabilities in spatial intelligence and physical AI research.
Advanced Micro Devices has agreed to acquire World Labs, the artificial intelligence startup led by renowned computer scientist Fei-Fei Li, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $8.2 billion. The deal is aimed at expanding AMD's capabilities beyond computing hardware and deeper into advanced AI model research.
World Labs develops AI systems focused on spatial intelligence, including models designed to understand, generate and reason about three-dimensional environments. The technology is relevant to emerging areas such as robotics and physical AI, where systems need to understand and interact with the physical world.
DEAL SNAPSHOT
AMD's acquisition of World Labs is valued at approximately $8.2 billion and will be completed entirely in AMD stock.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. World Labs' research team is expected to continue its work on AI models after becoming part of AMD.
Fei-Fei Li, World Labs' co-founder and chief executive, will join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist once the acquisition closes. She will report directly to AMD Chair and Chief Executive Lisa Su. Li is a Stanford University computer scientist widely known for her work in computer vision and for establishing ImageNet, a large-scale image dataset that played an important role in the development of modern computer vision.
LEADERSHIP MOVE
Fei-Fei Li will become AMD's executive vice president and chief scientist following the transaction, reporting directly to CEO Lisa Su.
World Labs raised $1 billion in a funding round earlier in 2026 as it worked to develop spatial-intelligence models. AMD said bringing the company's AI model research expertise in-house would help inform the development of future AI infrastructure across hardware, software and systems.
The acquisition comes as AMD expands its position across the AI computing market. Integrating World Labs' model research with AMD's computing portfolio could give the chipmaker greater insight into the workloads and infrastructure requirements of emerging physical AI applications.