AMD acquires AI startup World Labs for approximately $8.2 billion

AMD announced on September 28, 2026, that it has reached a final agreement to acquire World Labs, an AI model research lab led by prominent AI researcher Fei-Fei Li. The acquisition is expected to be valued at approximately $8.2 billion, fully through stock exchange, and is anticipated to be completed by late 2026 pending regulatory approvals.

This acquisition will integrate World Labs' world-class research team and model development expertise into AMD. The aim is to accelerate the construction of next-generation AI infrastructure and enhance an open AI ecosystem.

In the areas of spatial intelligence and robotics, synergies are expected to arise. Fei-Fei Li will serve as senior vice president and chief scientist following the acquisition.

World Labs, headquartered in San Francisco, focuses on generating, reconstructing, and simulating interactive 3D environments from text, image, and video inputs through its spatial intelligence models, as well as developing robotic learning and simulation technologies.

After the acquisition is finalized, the World Labs team will continue to focus on advancing AI model research. Fei-Fei Li will become AMD's executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting directly to Lisa Su, AMD's chair and CEO.

As AI trends diversify into reasoning, robotics, simulation, and physical AI, AMD aims to leverage World Labs' model insights to enhance its development roadmap for hardware, software, and systems, including CPUs, GPUs, and AI accelerators that respond to changing workloads. ASCII reported the story.