AMD to Acquire AI Startup World Labs in Deal Worth Over $8 Billion
AMD announced an all-stock acquisition of AI research lab World Labs worth about $8.2 billion. Co-founder Fei-Fei Li will join AMD as chief scientist once the deal closes.
Chipmaker AMD has announced it will acquire artificial intelligence research lab World Labs in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $8.2 billion. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of the year.
World Labs was founded in 2024 and reached a $1 billion valuation within just a few months. The company was co-founded by prominent researcher Dr. Fei-Fei Li. In 2025, World Labs released its first commercial product, a world generation model called Marble that allows users to create interactive 3D worlds from a text prompt.
Li to become AMD's chief scientist
Once the deal closes, Fei-Fei Li will become executive vice president and chief scientist at AMD, reporting directly to CEO Lisa Su. The World Labs team will continue focusing on advancing AI model research.
Writing on her Substack, Li said that just as it was once clear she needed to start a company to jumpstart the development of foundation models beyond large language models, it is now equally clear that the right path for her and World Labs is to continue that mission as part of AMD.
AMD said the acquisition will strengthen its ability to develop AI hardware, software, and systems tailored to the needs of emerging models and applications. Su said that building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving, and that the World Labs team's research expertise will be a valuable asset in that effort.
The deal is the latest in a string of multibillion-dollar AI acquisitions in recent weeks — earlier this month, Nvidia announced plans to acquire Hugging Face for nearly $13 billion.
