AMD announced on 28 September 2026 a definitive agreement to acquire World Labs, the artificial-intelligence model lab led by Fei-Fei Li. The all-stock transaction is valued at about $8.2 billion.

The merger agreement had been signed on 26 September, according to a filing with the SEC. The public announcement followed on Monday. Signing and closing are not the same: the deal remains subject to regulatory approvals and other customary conditions.

World Labs, based in San Francisco, develops models that generate, reconstruct and simulate interactive three-dimensional environments, with uses in robotics and learning through simulation. The company calls them world models; they are not a consumer product launched with the release.

After closing, Fei-Fei Li is to join AMD’s leadership as executive vice president and chief scientist, working with chief executive Lisa Su. The World Labs team is expected to continue its research inside the group. The announced roles depend on the transaction completing.

AMD presented the purchase as a strengthening of model research alongside hardware. It is not a guaranteed share of “physical AI” and does not replace chips already sold. Integration remains a post-closing process.

The company expects the deal to close by the end of 2026. That date is an estimate. The number of shares to be issued is, according to the filings, calculated from a volume-weighted average price before closing, not from the announcement-day quote.

Until approvals, World Labs and AMD remain distinct entities in the public description of the deal. A retrospective article records the valuation and the conditions, not a consolidated balance sheet that does not yet exist.

Image: Genevieve Martin / OLCF at ORNL, Lisa Su, 7 May 2019, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. Not the World Labs announcement of 28 September 2026. Cropped to 16:9.

Source consulted: AMD to Acquire World Labs to Advance the Future of AI — AMD Newsroom.