The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Following the acquisition, World Labs founder Fei-Fei Li will become AMD’s executive vice president and chief scientist, reporting directly to CEO Lisa Su.
World Labs develops AI models designed to understand, generate and simulate three-dimensional environments. Its research focuses on spatial intelligence, giving AI systems representations of objects, environments and physical interactions rather than relying primarily on language.
AMD explicitly connected the acquisition to robotics, simulation and physical AI. The company said emerging AI applications are creating new computing requirements and that World Labs’ model research will help inform AMD’s future hardware, software and systems roadmaps.
World Labs and AMD were already working together before the acquisition. According to Li, the companies began a technical partnership last year focused on training and inference optimization using AMD GPUs.
World Labs raised $1 billion earlier this year in a round that included AMD alongside other investors. The company has also been developing technology for robotic learning and simulation.
The acquisition puts AMD directly into the development of the models that could eventually drive demand for its compute infrastructure. NVIDIA has pursued a similar convergence of compute, simulation and physical AI through platforms including Cosmos, its family of world foundation models.
World Labs will continue its AI model research after the transaction closes, while Li’s appointment gives AMD direct leadership from one of the researchers who helped establish modern computer vision.
