U.S. footwear maker Allbirds surged more than 700 percent in a single day on news it will abandon its shoe business and pivot to an artificial intelligence infrastructure company.

On April 15, blockchain outlet BeInCrypto reported that Allbirds announced it would fully exit footwear and shift into leasing AI computing resources. The company plans to change its name to NewBird AI and pursue a model of securing high-performance GPUs and providing them to developers and corporate clients.

Allbirds was valued at about $4 billion at the time of its 2021 initial public offering, but in March it effectively wound down its existing business by selling its shoe brand to American Exchange Group for $39 million. The remaining entity has secured a convertible-bond-type financing facility worth about $50 million.

The company plans to use initial funds to secure high-performance GPU assets and lease them to customers with demand for AI computing. It currently has no track record or operating experience in hardware, data centres or cloud services. The business pivot and financing plans require approval at an extraordinary shareholders meeting scheduled for May 18.

Some in the market also point to a gap between the stock's surge and the company's actual business capabilities. Analyst Kyle Dubbs (카일 둡스) said, "The market is rewarding future possibility, not the business as it exists today." He added, "Nothing operational changed overnight. Only the story changed." He described shoes as a "finished narrative" and AI as an "ongoing narrative."

Some also say the move resembles past theme pivots. In 2025, some medical companies announced they would abandon existing businesses and switch into crypto treasury strategy companies, sending their shares sharply higher, but later performance led to widely diverging stock moves. Helius Medical Technologies fell sharply from around $25 near its peak to about $2.31 now, while Nakamoto Holdings is pursuing a reverse stock split to meet listing maintenance requirements. Light Strategy is also stuck at a low market capitalisation level.

Kyle Chasse (카일 샤세), founder of venture investment firm Master Ventures, called the phenomenon an "AI effect." He said a pattern is repeating in which companies with weakening core businesses move to AI, the hottest narrative, to lift their share prices.

Well-known investor Jim Cramer (짐 크레이머) also expressed a sceptical view. He said he wished Allbirds luck with its attempt to pivot to GPUs, but called the case the first clear signal that the market had become excessively overheated.

In the end, assessments say whether the surge fades as a temporary theme or leads to a real business transformation will depend, after shareholder approval, on securing GPUs and winning customers. Demand for AI computing is expanding, but it is still uncertain how competitive NewBird AI can become against large cloud companies investing billions of dollars.