The NZ-founded company that once sold Silicon Valley its favourite sneaker is now trying to sell it computing power, writes Catherine McGregor in today’s excerpt from The Bulletin.
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From wool to silicon A shoe company with no background in technology is pivoting to artificial intelligence.
Allbirds – the NZ-born sneaker brand co-founded by former All White Tim Brown in 2015 – announced yesterday it would rebrand as NewBird AI and use US$50 million in new investment to buy graphics processing units (GPUs), the powerful chips at the heart of the AI boom.
The plan is to lease that computing power out to companies struggling to access AI infrastructure, positioning the company as a “GPU-as-a-service provider”.
The announcement came just weeks after Allbirds sold its intellectual property and assets for a mere US$39 million – less than 1% of its peak US$4 billion valuation.
As the New York Times’ Livia Albeck-Ripka reports, investors responded with immediate enthusiasm: Allbirds stock surged more than 700% on the news, from around US$3 a share to over US$21, establishing itself as the market’s new meme-stock du jour.
‘A hail Mary’ The pivot has triggered reactions ranging from bafflement to alarm.
“At first it read like a really well-executed April Fools’ joke”, AI infrastructure expert Bill Kleyman told the NYT.
“Every company wants to be an AI company….
The underlying business is struggling; AI presents itself as a compelling narrative reset, and off we go.” Investment firm William Blair dropped its coverage of Allbirds entirely, calling the plan “by any measure a Hail Mary” and flagging “deep uncertainty” around the GPU pivot.
Bloomberg TV called it “the most 2026 move ever”.
Business Insider ran a piece rounding up the best social media jokes about the news – none of which, sad to say, are actually funny.
Not everyone was so sceptical.
New Zealand futurist Paul Spain told RNZ’s Corin Dann NewBird AI faced an uphill challenge, given the cost....
