AMD to Acquire AI Lab World Labs for $8.2 Billion
Chip giant AMD announced it will acquire artificial intelligence lab World Labs for $8.2 billion. Founder Fei-Fei Li will join AMD as Chief Scientist and Vice President.
Chip giant AMD announced on Monday that it will acquire San Francisco-based artificial intelligence lab World Labs for $8.2 billion. World Labs was founded by industry pioneer Fei-Fei Li. The chip manufacturer, which previously invested in World Labs, reported that it will pay for the startup in stock. Li, a Chinese-American former Stanford University professor known as the "godmother of artificial intelligence," previously worked for Google and led AI research. She will now be appointed Chief Scientist of AMD and will also serve as Vice President. The chip giant is the primary competitor to market leader Nvidia in the development and manufacturing of advanced chips for artificial intelligence systems.
World Labs develops what are known as "world models," capable of being used to simulate three-dimensional worlds. In a demonstration presented by Li and AMD CEO Lisa Su earlier this year, the two executives showed how a World Labs model named Marble is able to generate a 3-D scene based on just a few photos. In a social media post published yesterday, Li introduced Su as a "true friend." Artificial intelligence researchers predict that world models will be able to assist in the development of robots and other physical applications.
AMD plans to keep World Labs as a separate unit from its chip manufacturing business until the acquisition process concludes later this year. World Labs' models will enable the chip giant to plan the desired capabilities of its chips years in advance. This is AMD's second-largest acquisition following its $50 billion purchase of Xilinx in 2022.
