TL;DR
On September 28, 2026, AMD announced on its website a final agreement to acquire AI startup World Labs in an all-stock deal worth about $8.2 billion (roughly RMB 55 billion). After closing, founder Fei-Fei Li will serve as AMD's EVP and Chief Scientist.
Event overview
On September 28, 2026 (local time), AMD announced on its website that it had reached a final agreement to acquire World Labs. Per AMD's newsroom, 36Kr and Cailianshe, the deal is worth about $8.2 billion, to be paid entirely in stock, with closing expected before the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approval and other customary conditions.
Key facts
- Deal structure: about $8.2 billion (roughly RMB 55 billion) in an all-stock transaction, expected to close before end-2026 (per AMD's official announcement).
- Historical significance: AMD's second-largest acquisition ever, behind only the roughly $50 billion acquisition of Xilinx in 2022 (per 36Kr).
- Target: World Labs was co-founded in 2024 by AI scholar and Stanford professor Fei-Fei Li; it is based in San Francisco with a team of about 70, focusing on spatial intelligence and large world models (per 36Kr and Cailianshe).
- People: after closing, Li will serve as AMD's EVP and Chief Scientist (per AMD's official announcement).
- Strategy: AMD says the acquisition brings leading AI model research expertise to help shape future AI infrastructure and strengthen the open AI ecosystem (per AMD newsroom).
Official sources
- AMD Newsroom (September 28, 2026): AMD to Acquire World Labs to Advance the Future of AI Compute
- 36Kr (September 29, 2026): RMB 55 billion: Lisa Su buys Li Fei-Fei's world model company