AMD buys Fei‑Fei Li's World Labs for $8.2 billion
AMD is paying $8.2 billion in stock for the 3D-world AI startup, installing co-founder Fei-Fei Li as chief scientist months after a $1 billion round valued it at $5 billion.
AMD agreed to buy World Labs for about $8.2 billion in stock, TechCrunch, Bloomberg and The Verge reported Monday. The startup is led by Fei-Fei Li, whom TheRundownAI called a "godmother of AI." Li will become AMD's chief scientist and report to chief executive Lisa Su, the newsletter said.
https://x.com/TheRundownAI/status/2104672175118803416
The AI commentator rohanpaul_ai put the price at roughly 64% above the $5 billion valuation talked about earlier. That figure traced to a $1 billion round in February. Separately, the account AndrewCurran_ said Bloomberg was "breaking out the red banner" on the deal. AndrewCurran_ called it "confirmed by both parties," not a rumor.
Both AMD and Nvidia had joined that February round, rohanpaul_ai said. It is an unusual overlap for two companies that otherwise compete to sell chips to AI labs. AMD is now the one buying outright. The deal gives it about 70 researchers who build AI models for robotics and 3D simulation, the same account said.
rohanpaul_ai said the deal costs AMD less than 1% of its market value. AMD's stock has nearly tripled this year, the commentator noted. rohanpaul_ai compared the move to Nvidia's own practice of bundling AI models with the chips it sells.