AMD to acquire Fei-Fei Li's World Labs in an all-stock deal valued at about $8.2 billion
The short version
AMD announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire World Labs, the spatial intelligence company founded by Fei-Fei Li, in an all-stock transaction valued at about $8.2 billion. The deal has not closed. It is expected to complete by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions; after closing, Fei-Fei Li will become AMD's Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist, reporting to Lisa Su.
What changed
AMD and World Labs signed a definitive acquisition agreement, but the deal has not closed. If it completes as planned, the World Labs team will join AMD and keep focusing on model research.
What it means for you
Teams that use World Labs products or follow 3D world models can watch the product roadmap after closing; neither announcement says the products will change, and whether and when the deal completes depends on regulatory approval.
AMD's press release says World Labs develops spatial intelligence models that can generate, reconstruct and simulate interactive 3D environments from text, image and video inputs, and also works on robot learning and simulation. Per the release, the World Labs team will keep focusing on model research after closing.
In its own blog post, World Labs says the two companies have had a deep technical collaboration since last year, starting with optimizing model training and inference on AMD GPUs; Justin Johnson and Ben Mildenhall will continue to lead the team together with Fei-Fei Li. Both companies state that the deal is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions.
Fact check
- VerifiedAMD has signed a definitive agreement to acquire World Labs; the transaction has not closedEvidence
- VerifiedThe deal is all-stock, valued at about $8.2 billionEvidence
- VerifiedExpected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditionsEvidence
- VerifiedAfter closing, Fei-Fei Li will become AMD's Executive Vice President and Chief Scientist, reporting to Lisa SuEvidence
- VerifiedWorld Labs' spatial intelligence models can generate, reconstruct and simulate interactive 3D environments from text, image and video inputs; after closing, the team will continue to focus on model researchEvidence
- VerifiedWorld Labs says the two companies have had a deep technical collaboration since last year, starting with optimizing model training and inference on AMD GPUs; Justin Johnson and Ben Mildenhall will continue to lead the team together with Fei-Fei LiEvidence
- VerifiedThe event time, 2026-09-28 20:04:41 UTC, comes from the publication-time metadata of the AMD press release page; the visible page text shows only the date, Sept. 28, 2026Evidence
Coverage timeline
- Primary sourceAMDAMD to Acquire World Labs to Advance the Future of AI
- CoverageTechCrunchAMD will acquire Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2 billion
- CoverageThe VergeAMD is acquiring AI company World Labs in a deal worth more than $8 billion
- Primary sourceWorld LabsWorld Labs is Joining AMD