Lyten completes acquisition of Swedish Northvolt units
When Lyten, a battery developer specialising in lithium-sulphur cells, announced in early August 2025 its intention to acquire Northvolt’s sites in Sweden and Germany, the move was widely seen as a surprise. After all, the company, founded in San Jose, California, in 2015, had until then been significantly smaller than Northvolt, and the Swedish firm had focused on NMC batteries rather than lithium-sulphur cells. Nevertheless, by late September 2025, Lyten had secured all key approvals for the deal and aimed to finalise the acquisition by the end of October.Lyten’s announcement did not specify why the completion was delayed by several months, only that the deal, valued at nearly five billion dollars, has now been finalised. Northvolt Ett and Northvolt Labs are set to resume operations, with the battery factory in Skellefteå expected to deliver commercially produced cells in the second half of 2026. Currently, a rehiring programme is underway in Skellefteå and Västerås, with over 600 people set to return to Northvolt/Lyten.For now, the acquisition only includes Northvolt’s sites in Sweden. There is no update on the planned takeover of the factory under construction in Heide, northern Germany. The statement merely notes in its penultimate paragraph that Lyten is “advancing with the acquisition of the Northvolt facilities in Heide (Germany).”The acquisition of Northvolt Sweden includes 16 GWh of existing battery production capacity, more than 160 hectares of land, infrastructure, and buildings to support expanded manufacturing and industrial activities, as well as a battery research and development centre. Importantly, Lyten will utilise these existing production lines when operations resume—at least in terms of cell chemistry. “Ett will produce lithium-ion NMC batteries for an expanded customer base, including stationary battery energy storage systems, the automotive industry, and various mobility markets,” the new owner stated.Among the customers are various companies, such as Scania, as well as the electric successors to the Porsche 718 and the sister model Audi Concept C (or the production version of the concept study by that name), which are set to use Northvolt cells. Lyten will also use the cells produced in Skellefteå for its own purposes: even before acquiring the Swedish Northvolt entities, the US company had taken over the Polish site Northvolt Dwa, where stationary energy storage systems (BESS) are manufactured.For the time being, Lyten will continue Northvolt’s NMC production, but the Swedish site is also intended to produce its own lithium-sulphur cells in the future. “Northvolt Labs in Västerås will continue development of long-life lithium ion NMC cells and will collaborate with the Lyten Silicon Valley team to industrialize Lyten’s lithium-sulfur battery technology for gigascale manufacturing,” Lyten stated.In the future, the energy storage business could play an increasingly important role compared to mobility customers, as Lyten has also announced the establishment of the Lyten Industrial Hub in Skellefteå on the Northvolt Ett site. “The industrial hub will utilize the infrastructure built by Northvolt and access to abundant, clean hydro power to co-locate battery manufacturing with AI data centers and complimentary industrial operations of strategic importance to Sweden and the European Union. Lyten plans to utilize its batteries and energy storage systems as part of the industrial hub’s infrastructure,” the company said. Additionally, EdgeConneX, a global leader in data center development, is already lined up as a partner to take over a data centre site from Lyten in Skellefteå.“With this acquisition, Lyten now operates one of the largest battery manufacturing campuses in Europe and the largest battery R&D center in Europe,” said Lyten CEO Dan Cook. “We have the infrastructure, talent, and technology to build a thriving battery ecosystem across North America and Europe, supported by local supply chains and local talent, to deliver on the rapidly growing global need for distributed electricity infrastructure.”Matthias Arleth, CEO of Lyten Sweden, added: “Following the successful completion of the transaction, we look forward to resuming production and gradually ramping up operations in Sweden, line by line. In Skellefteå, we have proven our ability to consistently produce high-quality battery cells that meet current customer needs. The research and development work in Västerås will be a cornerstone of our efforts to address future market demand with both high-performance NMC batteries and next-generation lithium-sulphur batteries.”lyten.com
