Trainer maker Allbirds to pivot to AI infrastructure, shares surge

(Sharecast News) - Shares of Allbirds - a US maker of Merino wool trainers - surged on Wednesday as it announced a dramatic shift to AI computer infrastructure. The San Francisco-based group, which announced last month that it had agreed to sell the Allbirds brand and footwear assets to American Exchange Group for $39m, plans to raise $50m through convertible notes with an unnamed institutional investor.

The facility, which is expected to close in the second quarter, will enable the company "to pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure, with a long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider," it said.

It also plans to change its name to NewBird AI.

Allbirds said that NewBird AI will use initial capital from the facility to buy high-performance GPU assets, which will be deployed to serve customers requiring dedicated access to AI compute capacity.

"Over time, the company intends to grow its neocloud platform by expanding its compute and service offerings, deepening partnerships with operators and customers, and evaluating strategic M&A opportunities," it said. "The company will initially seek to acquire high-performance, low-latency AI compute hardware and provide access under long-term lease arrangements, meeting customer demand that spot markets and hyperscalers are unable to reliably service."

Investors as of the dividend record date will receive a special dividend, while those who elect to continue to hold NewBird AI stock will be invested "in a growing AI compute infrastructure business supported by the facility", it said.

At 1500 BST, the shares were up 382% at $12.