AMD, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire World Labs, a leading research lab for next-generation AI models established by AI luminary Fei-Fei Li. This acquisition, worth around $8.2 billion in stock, is intended to improve AMD’s ability to design next-generation AI hardware and software systems that match changing workloads.
The strategic acquisition directly aligns with AMD’s focus on advancing open-ecosystem AI infrastructure. As enterprise AI applications expand beyond traditional language processing into reasoning, spatial simulation, robotics, and physical AI, the workload demands placed on hardware and compute architectures are diversifying. Integrating World Labs’ specialized research expertise provides AMD with essential insights into evolving AI workflows, enabling the semiconductor leader to optimize its future product roadmaps.
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“Building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving,” said Dr. Lisa Su, chair and CEO, AMD. “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.”
“Advancing the next generation of AI technology requires close collaboration across model research, systems and compute,” said Dr. Fei-Fei Li, co-founder and CEO, World Labs. “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.”
Expanding Spatial Intelligence and Physical AI Expertise
Headquartered in San Francisco, World Labs specializes in spatial intelligence models capable of constructing, simulating, and generating interactive 3D environments using video, image, and text inputs. The lab is also at the forefront of developing models for robotic learning and environmental simulation.
Following the completion of the acquisition, the World Labs team will continue to drive advanced AI model research within AMD. Dr. Fei-Fei Li will join AMD as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist, reporting directly to AMD Chair and CEO Dr. Lisa Su.
