Footwear retailer Allbirds raises $50 million to transform into AI computing company

Odaily News: Footwear retailer Allbirds announced it will sell its sneaker business and transform into an AI computing infrastructure company named "NewBird AI." Driven by this news, the company's stock price once surged by approximately 300%.

According to the announcement, Allbirds has agreed to sell its footwear brand to American Exchange Group and will deploy GPU computing power and AI infrastructure construction through a $50 million convertible bond financing. This financing amount is about twice the company's market capitalization of $22 million before the announcement.

This move reflects the strong market demand for AI computing resources and the current tight supply situation. Following Bitcoin mining companies shifting to high-performance computing (HPC), small-cap companies are also beginning to attempt to enter the AI infrastructure track. However, the convertible bond financing may be converted into equity in the future, potentially causing dilution pressure on existing shareholders. (CoinDesk)