US chipmaker AMD announced on September 28 that it has agreed to acquire World Labs, the company founded by AI researcher Fei-Fei Li, in an all-stock deal valued at about $8.2 billion. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval.
Once the deal closes, Li will join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting directly to CEO Lisa Su. A professor of computer science at Stanford University, Li is regarded as a pioneer of computer vision for her work on the ImageNet database.
Founded in 2024, World Labs develops “world models” designed to understand the physical world and capable of generating interactive 3D environments from text, images and video. AMD said the company’s research would give it deeper insight into emerging AI workloads and shape its chip roadmap. World Labs, which has about 70 employees, acquired robotics firm SceniX in July.
The deal would be AMD’s largest acquisition since its roughly $50 billion purchase of Xilinx, completed in 2022. In February, World Labs raised $1 billion from investors including AMD, Nvidia and Autodesk.
The $8.2 billion all-stock deal, the September 28 announcement, Li's new role, the earlier AMD partnership and Li's ImageNet work: TechCrunch, 28 September 2026. Reporting to Lisa Su, the end-2026 target, about 70 employees and the SceniX purchase: Briefs (citing Bloomberg and CNBC). Largest deal since Xilinx: Newscord roundup. World Labs' $1 billion round and investors: Reuters, 18 February 2026. Definition of world models: IT Home.
Startup Fortune reports the February round was at a $5 billion valuation, while Reuters says the valuation was not disclosed; the valuation was therefore left out. The Xilinx deal value is given as roughly $50 billion in the sources.
The share exchange ratio and the jurisdictions requiring regulatory approval have not been disclosed.
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