AMD is moving deeper into the AI stack with an approximately $8.2 billion all-stock agreement to acquire World Labs, the AI model and research company co-founded and led by AI pioneer Dr. Fei-Fei Li.
The deal signals a strategic shift beyond building increasingly powerful processors. As AI workloads move from conventional generative applications toward reasoning, robotics, simulation and physical AI, AMD is seeking closer insight into how emerging models will use compute and how its hardware, software and systems should evolve accordingly.
World Labs develops spatial-intelligence models capable of generating, reconstructing and simulating interactive 3D environments from text, image and video inputs. Its work also extends into robotic learning and simulation, areas that are expected to create increasingly diverse compute requirements.
“Building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving. Fei-Fei and the World Labs team bring exceptional research leadership and model expertise.” — Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO, AMD
For AMD, bringing model researchers closer to its infrastructure development could help narrow the gap between AI model innovation and hardware roadmaps. The company said World Labs’ expertise will provide deeper insight into evolving workloads and help shape future technology decisions, while supporting its broader strategy around an 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.”
Following completion of the acquisition, Li is expected to join AMD as Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist, reporting to Dr. Lisa Su. The World Labs team will continue its AI model research under AMD.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. For AMD, the acquisition represents an effort to build stronger feedback loops between model development and the underlying infrastructure required to run increasingly sophisticated AI systems.
As AI expands into physical and spatial environments, the competitive landscape is increasingly being shaped not only by model performance or chip specifications, but by how effectively the two evolve together.