Allbirds, the trendy shoe company once worth $4 billion, is ditching footwear to become an AI computing business called NewBird AI. The company will rent out powerful computer chips that AI companies need to train their models.
This sounds crazy, but it’s actually happening. Allbirds stock has crashed over 95% from its peak, and the sustainable shoe market got crowded with competitors. Instead of fighting for shoe sales, they’re jumping into the AI gold rush.
From Wool Sneakers to Computer Chips
Allbirds made a name selling comfortable shoes made from wool and other natural materials. They were everywhere a few years ago, worn by tech executives and marketed as the perfect sustainable sneaker. But sales dropped as Nike, Adidas, and dozens of smaller brands launched their own eco-friendly shoes.
Now they’re betting everything on “GPU-as-a-Service” – basically renting out the expensive computer chips that AI companies desperately need. Think of it like Airbnb, but for the powerful processors that train ChatGPT-style AI models.
What’s Next
The rebrand to NewBird AI happens next month. It’s a massive gamble – they’re abandoning everything they built in shoes to enter a crowded AI market dominated by giants like Amazon and Google. But with AI companies spending billions on computing power, maybe selling virtual processing power will work better than selling actual shoes.
