AMD has agreed to buy World Labs for $8.2 billion in shares, bringing AI researcher Fei-Fei Li into its executive ranks.
According to TechCrunch, Li will become AMD’s executive vice president and chief scientist. The deal gives AMD an in-house research team working on spatial intelligence, with potential applications in robotics and simulation.
World Labs develops models that generate and reconstruct interactive 3D environments from text, images and video. Its work includes technology for training robots.
AMD says access to that research will help it design future processors, software and complete systems around emerging AI workloads. Chip designers benefit from understanding what future models will demand before committing expensive silicon to production. Buying the researchers brings that discussion inside the company, although $8.2 billion makes this a spectacularly expensive way to arrange a meeting.
AMD chair and chief executive Lisa Su said: “Building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving.”
Li will report directly to Su, while the World Labs team continues its model research within AMD. The company presents the purchase as part of its effort to support an open AI ecosystem. The transaction is expected to close before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and the usual closing conditions.
