The wool-sneaker brand Allbirds is trying on a very different identity. According to Reuters, the company changed its name to Smartbird on Wednesday as it pivots from selling shoes to becoming an AI infrastructure company. It also named Nadia Carlsten, a former Amazon Web Services executive, as its new CEO.
Investors cheered the news. Reuters reports that BIRD shares jumped more than 20%. CNBC, which described the move as a continuation of an AI pivot, noted that the stock soared on the announcement of the name change and the CEO hire.
The shift has been building for months. According to CNBC, Allbirds first rebranded as NewBird AI in April and said it would trade shoes for AI compute infrastructure — the data-center hardware and computing power that companies rent to train and run artificial intelligence systems. Wednesday's change to Smartbird, paired with a leadership hire from one of the world's largest cloud providers, signals the company is serious about that new direction.
It is a striking reinvention for a brand best known for comfortable, sustainable footwear marketed to eco-conscious shoppers. Hiring an ex-AWS leader suggests Smartbird wants credibility in a field dominated by entrenched cloud and chip giants.
Why it matters: the sharp stock pop shows just how much investor enthusiasm is attached to anything labeled AI infrastructure right now — enough to make even a struggling shoe company look like a tech play overnight.