Allbirds' AI Pivot: A New Market for Managed AI Compute

Allbirds has sold its shoe business for $43 million and rebranded as Smartbird, an AI infrastructure provider. Former AWS executive Nadia Carlsten is now CEO and aims to offer carefully managed deployments for companies seeking direct control over their AI servers. This niche market is still nascent, but Carlsten believes it has growth potential. With several customers already on board, Smartbird is poised to compete with established companies like Hewlett Packard and Equinix. Why it matters: As companies increasingly prioritize data sovereignty and custom AI solutions, the managed AI compute market is emerging as a key area of focus in the AI landscape.