AMD Acquires World Labs in $8.2 B All-Stock Deal

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced on September 28, 2026 that it will acquire World Labs, a San Francisco-based AI research lab founded by Dr. Fei-Fei Li. The all-stock transaction values World Labs at approximately $8.2 billion and is slated to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval. Li will become AMD’s executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting to CEO Lisa Su.

AMD buys Fei-Fei Li's World Labs for $8.2 billion in an all-stock deal CNBCAMD Agrees to Acquire World Labs in $8.2 Billion All-Stock Deal AMD Agrees To Acquire World Labs Led By Dr. Fei-Fei Li In $8.2 Billion Deal: how 14 outlets framed it Nvidia rival AMD to buy industry pioneer’s AI startup World Labs for US$8.2 billion AMD to Acquire AI Lab World Labs in $8.2B All-Stock Transaction AMD (AMD) Stock: Drops as $8.2B World Labs Deal Targets AI Growth

World Labs, launched in early 2024 by Dr. Li, focuses on “spatial-intelligence” models that generate and simulate three-dimensional environments. Its first commercial product, Marble, launched on November 12 2025, followed by a public World API on January 21 2026. In February 2026 the company raised $1 billion in a round that included AMD, Nvidia and others, and it acquired robotics-simulation startup SceniX on July 21 2026.

AMD Agrees to Acquire World Labs in $8.2 Billion All-Stock Deal

• February 18 2026 – $1 billion funding round announced.

AMD to buy Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2bn

• July 21 2026 – Acquisition of SceniX.

Nvidia rival AMD to buy industry pioneer’s AI startup World Labs for US$8.2 billion

• September 1 2026 – Atlas omni world model unveiled.

AMD to Acquire AI Lab World Labs in $8.2B All-Stock Transaction

• September 28 2026 – AMD announces definitive agreement to acquire World Labs for $8.2 billion.

AMD to buy Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2bn

• Deal value: $8.2 billion, all-stock.

AMD to buy Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2bn

• Funding: $230 million seed (2024) -> $1 billion Series B (Feb 2026).

AMD to buy Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2bn

• AMD Q2 2026 revenue: $11.5 billion; data-center revenue: $6.7 billion.

AMD to buy Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2bn

• Share-price reaction: AMD closed at $607.87, down 3.6 % after hours on announcement day.

AMD to buy Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2bn

• Workforce: World Labs reported roughly 70 employees.

AMD Agrees to Acquire World Labs in $8.2 Billion All-Stock Deal

Both executives highlighted a shared goal of strengthening an open AI ecosystem that spans chips, frameworks, and frontier models.

AMD buys World Labs for $8.2 billion

The purchase positions AMD to compete more directly with Nvidia, which offers its own world-model suite, Cosmos. Integrating frontier model research allows AMD to align silicon design with spatial-intelligence workloads—areas such as robotics, autonomous vehicles and digital twins that stress memory, interconnect and latency differently from large-language-model inference.

AMD buys World Labs for $8.2 billion AMD to pay $8.2B for Fei-Fei Li's World Labs AMD to Acquire Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2 Billion in AI Hardware Bet AMD (AMD) Stock: Drops as $8.2B World Labs Deal Targets AI Growth AMD buys Fei-Fei Li's World Labs for $8.2 billion in an all-stock deal

Media outlets reported a $5 billion valuation for World Labs earlier in 2026, while the acquisition price is $8.2 billion, indicating a significant increase. Exact employee counts and post-close integration milestones remain undisclosed.

AMD to buy Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2bn

• “Fei-Fei and the World Labs team bring exceptional research leadership and model expertise.” — Dr. Li

AMD to acquire AI research firm World Labs for $8.2 billion

• “Together, we’ll combine World Labs’ deep expertise in AI and world models with AMD’s compute leadership to power the future of AI and strengthen the open AI ecosystem,” — Lisa Su

Fortune Magazine

The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, pending regulatory approvals. After closing, World Labs will continue its AI model research under AMD, with Li’s team working alongside AMD’s CPU, GPU and networking groups to influence upcoming product roadmaps. AMD has indicated future announcements will detail how the combined organization will deliver end-to-end AI infrastructure for open-ecosystem customers.

AMD Agrees to Acquire World Labs in $8.2 Billion All-Stock Deal AMD to Acquire AI Lab World Labs in $8.2B All-Stock Transaction AMD Buys Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2 Billion AMD to acquire AI research firm World Labs for $8.2 billion AMD (AMD) Stock: Drops as $8.2B World Labs Deal Targets AI Growth AMD buys World Labs for $8.2 billion AMD Agrees To Acquire World Labs Led By Dr. Fei-Fei Li In $8.2 Billion Deal: how 14 outlets framed it