AMD Stock Buys Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs in $8.2 Billion AI Deal

TLDR

• AMD announced it will acquire World Labs, the AI startup founded by Fei-Fei Li, for $8.2 billion in an all-stock deal.
• Li will join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting directly to CEO Lisa Su.
• World Labs focuses on “spatial intelligence,” building AI models that simulate 3D environments for robotics and design.
• AMD and World Labs already had a partnership, and AMD invested in World Labs’ $1 billion funding round earlier this year.
• The deal is expected to close by the end of 2026, pending regulatory approval.

---

AMD announced Monday that it will acquire World Labs, the AI research startup led by Fei-Fei Li. The all-stock deal is valued at $8.2 billion.

We are excited to announce that World Labs is joining @AMD.

The research and technical breakthroughs we have achieved since our founding in 2024 have given us a clear vision for AI’s potential to solve problems in the spatial and physical world.

Accelerating the future of… pic.twitter.com/hIDM20vQsy

— World Labs (@theworldlabs) September 28, 2026

World Labs is based in San Francisco. The company builds AI models focused on “spatial intelligence,” a field aimed at helping machines understand and simulate physical spaces.

Li is a well known figure in computer vision research. She co-founded World Labs and will now join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist.

She will report directly to AMD CEO Lisa Su once the deal closes. The transaction is expected to be finalized by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.

A Partnership That Grew Into a Deal

AMD and World Labs weren’t strangers before this announcement. The two companies began working together last year on model training and inference tasks using AMD GPUs.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., AMD

That collaboration deepened over time. AMD also took part in World Labs’ $1 billion funding round earlier this year, giving it an early stake in the startup’s technology.

Li described the acquisition as a natural next step for both teams. She said the goal is to combine AMD’s hardware and software with World Labs’ AI research under one roof.

AMD sees the deal differently, though the outcome is the same. The company says World Labs’ research will help guide its future chip and infrastructure plans.

Su said understanding how AI models evolve is critical to building the right compute platforms. She called Li’s research leadership a strong fit for that goal.

World Labs’ technology has real world applications beyond chatbots and text generation. Its models can generate and reconstruct interactive 3D environments from text, image, and video inputs.

That kind of technology has uses in robotics, simulation, and design work. AMD believes this area will shape demand for chips and AI infrastructure going forward.

What Happens to World Labs Now

The World Labs team will keep working on AI model research after the deal closes. AMD says the startup’s focus will not change, even as it becomes part of a much larger company.

Li’s move to AMD is the more visible shift. She steps out of the CEO chair at World Labs and into a research leadership role at one of the world’s biggest chipmakers.

This is AMD’s largest AI related purchase to date. It follows a broader pattern of chip companies buying up AI model and research talent rather than only building hardware.

The deal still needs to clear regulatory approval before it becomes final. Both companies have set an end of 2026 target for closing.

AMD has not detailed how World Labs’ technology will be built into future products. For now, the company says the focus is on gaining research insight rather than launching a specific product.

The acquisition adds to a growing list of AI deals announced across the chip industry this year. It also marks one of the more high profile hires of an AI researcher into a corporate chief scientist role.