AMD to buy Fei-Fei Li's World Labs in $8.2 billion physical AI bet
AMD•AMD said it would acquire AI startup World Labs in an all-stock deal valued at $8.2 billion. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2026, after which Li will join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist.
1. All-stock acquisition
AMD said it would acquire World Labs, giving the chipmaker access to research on spatial intelligence, which focuses on enabling AI systems to model three-dimensional environments and physical interactions. The technology is aimed at applications including robotics, simulation and design.
2. Li to join AMD
Fei-Fei Li said World Labs began a technical partnership with AMD last year on model training and inference optimization on AMD GPUs. AMD said the research is expected to provide insight into emerging AI workloads and help guide its technology roadmaps. Li will report to CEO Lisa Su after the deal closes. World Labs raised $1 billion earlier this year in a funding round that included an investment from AMD.
