Chipmaker expands its AI ambitions with an all-stock acquisition focused on spatial intelligence, robotics and next-generation computing infrastructure
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced a definitive agreement to acquire World Labs, the artificial intelligence research company led by AI pioneer Dr. Fei-Fei Li, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $8.2 billion.
The acquisition represents another major step in AMD’s effort to expand beyond AI hardware and develop an integrated portfolio spanning chips, software, models and computing systems.
San Francisco-based World Labs specializes in spatial-intelligence models capable of generating, reconstructing and simulating interactive 3D environments using text, images and video. The company also develops technology for robotic learning and simulation, areas expected to require increasingly sophisticated computing infrastructure as AI moves into physical-world applications.
AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su said understanding how AI models are evolving is critical to building the computing platforms that will support the industry’s next generation.
World Labs’ research capabilities could provide AMD with deeper insight into emerging workloads across reasoning, robotics, simulation and physical AI. That knowledge could influence future AMD hardware and software roadmaps as the company competes to supply infrastructure for increasingly complex AI applications.
Following completion of the transaction, World Labs will continue focusing on advanced AI model research. Li, World Labs’ co-founder and CEO, will join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting directly to Su.
Li said joining AMD would provide World Labs with additional resources and engineering capabilities to accelerate its research while helping define infrastructure requirements for emerging AI systems.
The acquisition also supports AMD’s broader strategy of developing AI infrastructure around an open ecosystem.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions.
