AMD buys firm founded by researcher Li Feifei

Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) on Monday announced that it has acquired World Labs, an artificial intelligence (AI) company founded by Li Feifei (李飛飛), one of the field’s most prominent researchers, sometimes referred to as “the godmother of AI.”

The deal is valued at about US$8.2 billion and would make Li, a Stanford computer science professor, chief scientist at AMD.

The all-stock transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory approvals, the companies said in a statement.

“The more you understand end to end, the better system you are going to build,” AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

“That’s why we are acquiring World Labs,” Su said. “To have access to the world-class talent Feifei has brought together and bring it together with AMD’s capabilities around hardware, software and systems.”

Li founded World Labs to develop what she calls “spatial intelligence” — technology that can simulate 3D environments from images, video and text. The company researches so-called world models, which work differently from the popular AI systems that generate text and images. Instead of creating new content, world models learn how the physical world actually works so they can simulate and predict what happens.

The research has applications in robotics and virtual simulations.

“Now that we have tangible proof of the possibilities, we want to do everything we can to accelerate the future,” Li said in a blog post. “To do this requires scaling our efforts, widening our reach, and getting closer to the hardware.”

AMD this month became the latest equity to reach a US$1 trillion valuation due to the massive investment boom over AI.

Even with the latest surge, AMD’s valuation significantly trails rival chip company Nvidia Corp, which recently agreed to acquire high-profile AI start-up Hugging Face in a deal valued at about US$13 billion.

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Anna Paulson on Thursday joined the chorus of policymakers saying additional interest-rate increases may be needed to ensure inflation returns to the central bank’s 2 percent goal. “Looking ahead, if conditions evolve as I expect, some modest further tightening may be warranted,” Paulson said on Thursday at an event in Philadelphia. Earlier on Thursday, New York Fed President John Williams said he and his colleagues “still have a lot of work to do” in dealing with lingering inflation risks.

Several other officials have aired similar comments, in line with the signal given last week when policymakers voted

COURSE CHANGE: The shift comes amid pressure from chipmakers for stable, low-carbon electricity. Officials said Ma-anshan could be restarted as early as 2028 Taiwan has approved a preliminary plan to restart an idled atomic power plant, marking a reversal of the ruling party’s anti-nuclear stance as the nation pursues greater energy security. The Nuclear Safety Commission has cleared its review of an initial proposal to restart the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant, it said in a statement on Thursday.

Taiwan Power Co (台電) will still need to carry out follow-up work including safety inspections, before submitting another report on implementation for review, the commission said. The earliest the plant could resume operations is 2028, according to previous reports in local media, citing Minister of Economic Affairs

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“Many might be surprised to hear that the RF market is thriving now. We are gearing up for a massive capacity expansion, and it is all being driven by AI,” Feng said. He declined to disclose details of the

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In Taiwan’s case, high-tech and AI-related industries have continued to grow while traditional industries have come under increasing pressure, he said. AI development has created crowding-out effects, as large high-tech firms generating strong profits are better able