AMD acquires World Labs, physical AI hardware research company, for $8.2 billion; World Labs CEO becomes EVP/Chief Scientist.

AMD has acquired World Labs, an AI model and research lab, in an all-stock transaction valued at $8.2 billion. The acquisition is designed to strengthen AMD's capabilities in developing AI hardware, software, and systems that support emerging models and applications.

World Labs, founded in 2024 and based in San Francisco, develops "spatial-intelligence models" that generate, reconstruct, and simulate interactive 3D environments from text, image, and video inputs. The company also develops technology for robotic learning and simulation. Led by Dr. Fei-Fei Li, widely known as the "Godmother of AI," World Labs' research will provide AMD with deeper insight into evolving workloads and help inform its future technology roadmaps.

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. Following completion of the acquisition, World Labs' team will continue its research on advanced AI models. Dr. Li will join AMD as an executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting directly to CEO Dr. Lisa Su.

"Building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving," Dr. Su said. "Fei-Fei and the World Labs team bring exceptional research leadership and model expertise. Together, we can use that insight to develop the hardware, software and systems that will power the next generation of AI and strengthen the open AI ecosystem."

Dr. Li, co-founder and CEO of World Labs, added: "Advancing the next generation of AI technology requires close collaboration across model research, systems and compute. Joining AMD will give our team the resources and engineering depth to accelerate our research and help define the infrastructure needed for the next era of AI."