THE DAILY EDITION · 29 SEPTEMBER 2026
AMD to acquire World Labs in $8.2 billion AI push
Why this story?
An $8.2 billion all-stock deal is a rare, concrete sign of how much a chipmaker will pay to own frontier research talent outright.
AMD said it will acquire World Labs, an AI model and research lab co-founded by Fei-Fei Li, in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $8.2 billion, with closing expected by the end of 2026.
World Labs will join AMD, and Li will become executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting to AMD chief executive Lisa Su. The World Labs team will continue focusing on advancing AI model research.
AMD said the move will strengthen its ability to develop AI hardware, software and systems around the needs of emerging models and applications. Lisa Su added that the combination brings research leadership and model expertise to accelerate the next generation of AI infrastructure.
Lisa Su, AMD’s chief executive, said: ‘Building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving.’
World Labs is headquartered in San Francisco and develops spatial-intelligence models that generate, reconstruct and simulate interactive 3D environments from text, image and video inputs, as well as technology for robotic learning and simulation.
Following the close of the transaction, Li will join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist, and the World Labs team will focus on advancing AI model research; the deal is structured as an all-stock transaction and is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.
The press release includes forward-looking statements about the acquisition and notes that these statements are subject to risks and uncertainties.