Fei-Fei Li’s work helped make Nvidia’s (NVDA) chips the backbone of AI. Now she’s going to work for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD). The chipmaker is buying her startup, World Labs, in an $8.2 billion all-stock deal. Once it closes, Li will become AMD’s chief scientist and report directly to CEO Lisa Su. I think for AMD, getting Li may matter as much as the technology it's buying. She ran Stanford’s AI Lab and served as Google Cloud’s (GOOG) (GOOGL) chief AI scientist. So she understands both cutting-edge research and how large companies put AI to work. That mix is precisely what AMD needs as it tries to win more business from companies building AI at scale.
Her big breakthrough was ImageNet. Starting in 2007, Li and her team built a massive database of labeled images to teach computers to recognize what they see. She then turned it into an annual competition. In 2012, a neural network trained on ImageNet won the competition by a considerable margin, running on Nvidia graphics chips. That moment helped spark the deep learning boom, and it earned Li the nickname “Godmother of AI.”
More Top Stocks Daily: Go behind Wall Street’s hottest headlines with Barchart’s Active Investor newsletter.
Why Li Matters to AMD
In 2024, Li founded World Labs to build AI that can understand and create 3D worlds. It raised over $1.2 billion and started working with AMD in 2025, training its models on AMD’s GPUs. Once the deal closes, her team will keep focusing on AI research. That’s what makes this deal interesting to me. Li’s research could help AMD design chips around what future AI models will need before those models arrive. With her reporting straight to Su, those insights won’t have to pass through layers of management. The pioneer whose work helped lift Nvidia may now help AMD close the gap.
AI research is only one part of AMD's push. As I covered earlier, Lisa Su believes the real wave of CPU demand hasn't even started yet.
About AMD Stock
Advanced Micro Devices designs high-performance semiconductors for data centers, personal computers, artificial intelligence, embedded applications, and gaming. Its product portfolio includes CPUs, GPUs, networking products, AI accelerators, and cloud products. Founded in 1969, the company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and is led by President and CEO Dr. Lisa Su.
Year-to-date (YTD), AMD’s stock has surged 183%, comfortably outperforming the S&P 500’s ($SPX) 12.6% gain during the same period. The rally only began in April and then accelerated after the company’s first-quarter results in May. After the rally, the stock had been trading sideways and had fallen 1.3% in the last five days.
www.barchart.comAI Demand Continues to Fuel Expansion
Advanced Micro Devices reported its second-quarter fiscal 2026 earnings on Aug. 4. Revenue for the quarter was $11.54 billion, up 50% year-over-year (YoY). Adjusted earnings per share came in at $1.66, beating Wall Street consensus of $1.60, a surprise of 3.75%. On the profitability front, the company performed well. Operating income was $3.1 billion, while operating expenses for the quarter were $3.4 billion, up 40% YoY. Gaming remained a weak spot. Revenue in that segment fell 31% from a year earlier, mainly because of lower semi-custom sales as the console cycle matures.
Looking forward, the company expects revenue to be approximately $13 billion in the third quarter. Non-GAAP gross margin is expected to be approximately 56%, with non-GAAP operating expenses to be $3.65 billion for the quarter. The company is quite positive that the data center and embedded revenue will grow at double-digit rates in the quarter, while client gaming revenue is expected to decline because gaming remains under pressure. Looking further ahead, AMD said its data center segment should more than double in 2027, helped by the ramp of Helios, the company’s rack-scale AI platform.
What Do Analysts Expect for AMD Stock?
William Blair analyst Sebastien Naji reiterated a “Hold” rating on AMD stock. In contrast to William Blair, Stifel Nicolaus maintained a “Buy” rating and set a price target of $635. Based on 48 Wall Street analysts covering the stock, AMD holds a consensus “Strong Buy” rating. The stock has a mean price target of $627.79, reflecting a modest 4% upside from current levels. The high price target of $1250 is quite impressive and implies 107% upside from the current share price. This upside reflects investor confidence in the long-term prospects of the business.
www.barchart.com On the date of publication, Jabran Kundi did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
More news from Barchart
Target Stock Just Scored a New 'Buy' Rating. Here's Why. 3 Beaten-Down Blue-Chip Stocks to Buy Now on the Dip Analysts Are Feeling Bullish on CoreWeave Stock. Here's Why. The 'Godmother of AI' Helped Spark Nvidia's AI Boom. Now She's Joining AMD.