New to this? Read it in simple words
- AMD makes computer chips, including chips for AI.
- It will buy World Labs, a company that builds AI for 3D worlds.
- The deal is worth about $8.2 billion, paid in AMD shares.
- Fei-Fei Li, who started World Labs, will become AMD’s chief scientist.
- World model
- An AI that learns how the physical world looks and behaves, so it can create or predict 3D scenes.
- All-stock deal
- A purchase paid with the buyer’s own shares instead of cash.
- Chief scientist
- The senior person who leads a company’s research.
Fei-Fei Li, the Stanford professor behind the ImageNet dataset, founded World Labs in 2024 to build AI that understands 3D space. On September 28, AMD said it would buy the company.
The deal
AMD has signed a definitive agreement to acquire World Labs in an all-stock transaction valued at about $8.2 billion. It expects to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.
After the deal closes, Li will join AMD as executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting to CEO Lisa Su. Co-founders Justin Johnson and Ben Mildenhall will keep leading the World Labs team with her.
Neither company has said what will happen to World Labs’ products, such as its Marble world model, or to its brand.
Terms from AMD’s release. Closing depends on regulators.
Why AMD wants it
“Building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving,” Su said.
World Labs develops models that generate, reconstruct and simulate interactive 3D environments from text, images and video, AMD says, plus technology for robot learning and simulation.
Li wrote that “without having a focused hardware effort, AI is hobbled in efficiency.” The two companies have worked together since last year on training and running models on AMD chips.
The race
Nvidia already offers its own open world models, called Cosmos, TechCrunch notes, while AMD has so far released only text and video models.
World Labs has raised about $1 billion, according to Fortune, and Su was an early investor. AMD’s shares were roughly flat in after-hours trading on Monday.
Other world-model companies include AMI Labs, which Yann LeCun started in March, Fortune writes.
Sources
Every fact in this story comes from the sources below. Open them to check our work.
- 1Primary source · September 28, 2026AMD to Acquire World Labs to Advance the Future of AI Compute AMD
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- 4Research · September 28, 2026AMD acquires startup cofounded by ‘godmother of AI’ Fei-Fei Li for $8.2 billion Fortune
The price and deal terms come from AMD. The funding figure and the share-price move come from Fortune.
AMD will buy Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for $8.2 billion. Silicon AI News, September 29, 2026. https://siliconainews.com/stories/amd-acquires-world-labs
AMD agreed to buy Fei-Fei Li’s World Labs for about $8.2 billion, a large deal that brings 3D world models into AMD. How we rate the mood
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