AMD eyes growing world models market with $8.2bn World Labs deal

The chip company will bring a research team led by Fei-Fei Li on board to bolster its model research and chip development.

By Noah Bovenizer

Sep 29, 2026 3:37 PM 2 min read

AMD eyes growing world models market with $8.2bn World Labs deal — AMD CEO Lisa Su and Fei-Fei Li sign an acquisition agreement. Image Credit: Fei-Fi Li

Chip company AMD is spending $8.2 billion to expand its model development arm and gain insight into the world models sector by acquiring World Labs.

AMD said Monday that it had signed an agreement to buy the startup helmed by ImageNet creator Fei-Fei Li and bring its team of researchers and model experts on board, making Li AMD’s chief scientist.

AMD CEO Lisa Su said: “Building the compute platforms for the next generation of AI requires a deep understanding of how models are evolving… We can use [World Labs’] insight to develop the hardware, software and systems that will power the next generation of AI.”

World Labs’ spatial intelligence world models are part of a rapidly growing sector developing models that simulate real-world environments and physics for advanced simulations and use in training robots.

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Noah Bovenizer

Noah Bovenizer is a senior reporter with The Stack. He previously covered the transportation sector for Global Data. He has a first class degree in journalism and has also worked as a newsreader for Gaydio.