This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on May 13th, 2026. This piece was translated from Swedish by Claude. Some phrasing may differ from a human translation.

Why did Lyten ultimately buy Northvolt? New information suggests the battery factory was only part of the value. Access to cheap green electricity proved decisive — and it may be routed to an American tech giant.

For a battery factory, there has been a surprising lack of discussion about actual batteries when it comes to Northvolt. Perhaps because relatively few of them ever left the factory while it was running?

A new book raises questions about whether things will improve under new management.

In the aftermath of the Northvolt collapse, it looks as though access to green electricity — rather than battery manufacturing — is one of the primary assets on offer. And moreover, it was what tipped the scales in favor of the American company Lyten’s rescue of Northvolt. Behind this obscure company, you also find considerably more well-known names that were part of the deal.

SvD has previously reported that Lyten — as part of purchasing Northvolt — acquired a new neighbor in Skellefteå: the American data center company Edgeconnex. That company is in turn owned by the Swedish private equity firm EQT.

Edgeconnex plans to build a new data center — potentially the largest in Sweden — on the land right next to Northvolt. Daniel Ketema, communications director at EQT, told SvD in February that “the data center has nothing to do with Lyten, beyond the geographic proximity. These are two completely separate operations.”

The new book “Northvoltfallet” by business journalist Gunnar Lindstedt suggests this may be a truth with some modification.

The book describes how EQT extended Lyten a bridge loan of SEK 2–3 billion to enable the purchase of Northvolt’s battery factory for SEK 900 million, plus real estate and land for roughly the same amount.

Why would EQT have an interest in helping Lyten with the financing? Because, as part of this circular deal, Edgeconnex will gain access to a portion of the green electricity that Skellefteå Kraft had previously guaranteed to Northvolt, as well as the adjacent land. This is according to sources in Lindstedt’s book. SvD approached EQT for comment, but the company has not responded.

According to the book’s sources, Edgeconnex will pay around SEK 5 billion to secure both the land and the electricity agreement from Lyten. That would allow the loan to EQT to be repaid. The circle is closed. The operations are entirely separate — but the original deal could not have happened without the initial loan.

What the deal highlights is the true value that players — old and new alike — are trying to capture in these green tech transactions. It’s about cheap green electricity. But when it comes to electricity access of this scale, you can’t simply plug into a grid and get going. It requires planning and permits.

Being able to use existing electricity agreements already in place is therefore a substantially faster and smoother solution. Skellefteå Kraft was ready for Northvolt. And now some of that allocated electricity may go to a data center instead.

Lyten seems to have developed a taste for the model. In March they announced they were establishing a “Lyten Industrial Hub” in Poland. It is being built — just as in Skellefteå — next to Lyten’s (formerly Northvolt’s) battery factory in Gdansk. Lyten CEO Dan Cook said in a press release that the purpose was to “combine advanced materials and battery energy storage with digital infrastructure for AI.”

But what AI data centers need right now is not large quantities of batteries. They need electricity. A great deal of electricity. And Lyten’s battery manufacturing in Northvolt’s former factories has not yet begun.

As Northvolt is now being rebuilt, it is worth examining what was promised from the start, what was actually delivered — and what the operation looks set to become.

What was promised were Swedish environmentally friendly batteries that would, among other things, supply European automotive manufacturers. A strategically important component to have close at hand in a geopolitically complicated world.

What we got was a Swedish factory with Chinese machinery, operated by Chinese workers, using imported Chinese cathode material. The Swedish cathode that was meant to be produced simply could not be made to sufficient quality or in sufficient quantity. And it all ended in a bankruptcy described as the largest in Sweden since the Kreuger crash.

What does it look set to become? The very thing that was supposed to make these batteries green in the first place — access to electricity in northern Sweden — may now go to an American data center instead.

The end customer — those who intend to use the data center once it is built — is, according to Lindstedt’s book, a familiar name: Google. When politicians celebrate Northvolt’s survival, they would do well to update their picture of what the operation may actually become.

Instead of a major push for green batteries, we may also end up simply helping an American tech giant with its electricity supply.

You can do that. But it is very far from what was promised at the start.