Skeleton Technologies has officially opened its €220 million SuperFactory in Markranstädt, near Leipzig. The facility is already delivering to Siemens, General Electric, and Hitachi Energy for European electrical grids, and to major US hyperscalers for AI infrastructure.
I sat down with CEO Taavi Madiberk to learn all about it.
Skeleton Technologies is a European global leader in high-power, fast-charging energy storage for AI data centres, grid stability, mobility, and defence. It works with some of the largest companies in the world, from AI hyperscalers to industrial and mobility OEMs, and defence prime contractors, with customers that include Hitachi Energy, Siemens, GE, Honda, Skoda Electric, and Danfoss, among others.
Its solutions are based on its patented Curved Graphene raw material, protect essential systems from power fluctuations, stabilise mission-critical infrastructure, enhance performance, and enable wider electrification across sectors where power, reliability, and safety matter most.
And, with a fully European value chain, Skeleton's supercapacitors use no lithium, cobalt, manganese, or other critical raw materials, and are based on the company's patented Curved Graphene material.
What Britishvolt and Northvolt got wrong — and Skeleton got right
Building full-scale industrial factories is fraught with risk — and Europe's battery sector has learned this the hard way. Britishvolt remains one of the continent's most high-profile gigafactory collapses: the plant was never built, its assets were sold to Recharge Industries (which also failed to advance the project), and the company was declared bankrupt in 2023.
Last year, Italvolt abandoned its plan to build a gigafactory on the former Olivetti site near Turin, entering insolvency soon after. And in March this year, even heavyweight Northvolt filed for bankruptcy, with production at its Skellefteå facility coming to a halt in June.
Madiberk offers vital learnings to the sector, declaring, "We started the company during the nuclear winter of energy and climate financing — back in 2009. That meant we had to grow organically. We always had a lack of capital, so we needed a product that truly differentiated in the market."
He believes that you cannot solve factory buildouts with money alone.
"Europe tried that — and failed. Skeleton has been lucky not to be over-capitalised. A lack of resources forces efficiency. If you hire hundreds of people for a factory scale-up, you get too many chefs in the kitchen. That's a killer in manufacturing."
Strategic partnerships
The company derisked its factory buildout by partnering with Siemens
"We used their know-how in logistics, digitalisation, and automation," explained Madiberk. The company initially created a digital twin of the factory, ensuring things worked virtually before building.
“You can’t outsource your way to deeptech”:
Crucially, Madiberk sees the company's biggest asset as in-house competence — people who have done it before.
"The common logic is: hire great people and outsource to industry experts. But top management needs to be hands-on — in equipment supply, in process design, in everything. Certain things you cannot buy from consultancies or outsource."
Talent has been another decisive factor. Taavi highlights the company's strategic hires:
"For AI, we brought in an experienced founder who sold his company to Danfoss for hundreds of millions. Now we have a very strong AI team in Finland."
Agility has been just as important. When heavy-duty electrification slowed, Skeleton didn't stay attached to outdated plans. "Companies must look at real challenges," he says, and pivot accordingly. Even though Skeleton Technologies was smaller in the past — delivering to BMW vehicles and Volvo robot trucks — its prior experience allowed it to scale.
Madiberk recalled being knee-deep in mud on the land slot in 2023:
"There was nothing. And I told shareholders, "Do not worry. There will be a plant here with equipment. We will make it happen."
Further, Madiberk also points out that the company's long-standing focus on materials independence has become a competitive advantage.
"I've told customers for 15 years that critical raw materials matter. We use no lithium, cobalt, or manganese — and have a European value chain. People ignored it for years. After COVID and geopolitical shocks, suddenly it matters."
Inside Skeleton’s rise from niche markets to a critical infrastructure leader
Skeleton Technologies also avoided the path many battery companies took: trying to solve everything with money. Instead, Madiberk contends,
"We avoided the sexiest, shiniest markets. We never went after EV main batteries. We never went after long-duration grid storage. That was a conscious decision.
Two years ago, some investors told me: "Taavi, these are niche markets. Look at the EV market and that demand. Why aren't you chasing it?" But we stuck to our core."
Rather, the company focuses on two key areas:
"We keep the lights on in Europe."
Five months ago, Skeleton had the largest marketing campaign in its history.
"People in Spain and Portugal noticed — it was the blackout. That moment was a wake-up call for Europe," shared Madiberk.
The 2025 Iberian blackout highlighted the vulnerabilities of interconnected grids, and the European Commission estimates that €584 billion investment will be needed by 2030 to modernise Europe's electricity networks.
Madiberk compares renewables to driving without a safety belt, contending, "the blackout happened because of renewable fluctuations — the solution isn't to go back to coal or nuclear. The solution is adding a safety belt. "
German transmission system operators now use Skeleton supercapacitors as the last line of defence for 200 MW building blocks for 1.25 seconds of stability to prevent events like the Spain/Portugal blackout.
Skeleton’s AI pivot pays off
Further, about 18 months ago, the team realised that heavy-duty electrification would take longer than expected. So in response, the company focused on delivering supercapacitors to US AI data centre infrastructure companies.
In 2026, US hyperscalers are expected to invest $330 billion in AI infrastructure, while Europe will invest barely $10 billion. European investment must rise significantly but the continent faces two structural challenges.
First, electricity bills will increase further as energy-hungry AI data centres drive up demand. Second, only a small share of the value of AI data centre infrastructure is manufactured in Europe.
Madiberk asserts:
"We did something differently: Skeleton built its own power electronics and software. That allowed us to get into the AI market.
And this niche is becoming our biggest market.
We're also fully vertically integrated: our own materials, our own supercapacitors, our own AI and grid product lines."
AI data centres are overbuilt, overheating, and wasting power
A typical AI data centre pulls full power for a second and then, during data transfer, drops GPU load almost to zero — a cycle that repeats constantly. These rapid fluctuations, happening 24/7, create enormous stress on the grid as tens or even hundreds of megawatts swing up and down.
Right now, around 40 per cent of AI energy is simply wasted, burned off to manage those peaks, and grid connections must be built at twice the required size just to cope. The wasted energy also overheats GPUs — and even immersion cooling can't fully remove that heat — cutting into overall performance. In response, Skeleton built its own power electronics and software.
According to Madiberk, by using Skeleton's solution, you can get up to 40 per cent more computing power. On a $330 billion investment this year, that's $100 billion in value.
"We keep the lights on — and we keep GPUs cool. That's our dual mission."
How Skeleton’s Leipzig plant powers the AI era
Specifically, Skeleton's Leipzig factory plant manufactures the company's latest graphene-based supercapacitors, used in GrapheneGPU™, enabling AI data centres to cut total electricity consumption by up to 44 per cent by smoothing power peaks and reducing stress on the electrical grid.
At the same time, it keeps a core part of the value chain in Europe.
By eliminating power peaks and overheating, GrapheneGPU™ unlocks 40 per cent more computing power from the same investment in NVIDIA, AMD, or other GPUs.
Further, Skeleton is the only fully integrated European company in high-power energy storage, covering the entire value chain from raw materials to cells, modules, systems, and software.
The company is built on deep tech and holds more than 70 patent families across the value chain.
Skeleton's inauguration of the Leipzig supercapacitor facility follows the recent opening of its SuperBattery plant in Varkaus, Finland. The Leipzig SuperFactory will create 420 jobs in Saxony and is designed for an annual output of up to 12 million cells.
Using digitalisation and automation solutions in collaboration with Siemens Digital Industries, the new plant reinforces Europe's advanced industrial base.
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