Batteries are becoming ever more strategic for global industry, driven above all by the energy transition. The sector, however, is dominated by China. Europe’s reliance on Chinese batteries is now considered one of the European Union’s main strategic vulnerabilities — often compared in severity to its former dependence on Russian gas. Beijing controls a vast share of the battery value chain: from the refining of raw materials such as lithium and graphite to the production of finished cells. Some Chinese companies hold global market shares above 35%.
Without structural intervention, by 2030 Europe risks becoming entirely dependent on China not only for lithium-ion batteries, but also for fuel cells. Brussels is trying to reverse the trend by promoting industrial investment in the sector. So far, however, things are not moving in the desired direction. The latest confirmation came on May 6, when Norwegian company Morrow Batteries filed for bankruptcy in court. The proceedings cover the holding company Morrow Batteries ASA together with its subsidiaries Morrow Technologies AS and Morrow Industrialization Center AS.
The news landed almost out of the blue, given that just weeks earlier Morrow seemed to be on its way to building a credible European alternative to Chinese batteries. In January, the company had announced the start of commercial-scale serial production and the first deliveries of cells to Finnish firm Proventia, under a long-term supply agreement running through 2031. Morrow had also signed its first defense-sector contract with a German company. Despite those positive milestones, the firm has been forced into bankruptcy.
What killed Morrow Batteries
Management said it regretted being unable to secure the time needed to find a new industrial investor. In the meantime, liquidity ran short. Several negotiations had reached an advanced stage, but none of them closed.
The board has laid out the causes of the collapse in detail. Morrow was operating in a capital-intensive industrialization phase, while the global battery market was hit by oversupply and heavy price pressure, driven above all by low-cost Chinese competition. Rising capital costs, delays in industrialization, and an increasingly cautious investment climate compounded the problem.
«The developments in the global battery market, combined with the enormous capital requirements typical of the early industrialization phase, have made this path far harder than expected», said Ann Christin Andersen, chair of Morrow’s board of directors.
The court of Agder will now appoint a bankruptcy administrator, while there is still hope that at least part of the industrial activity can be relaunched. Employees, in the meantime, are protected under Norway’s wage guarantee scheme.
The bigger question for Europe
The dilemma facing the continent is now sharper than ever: can Europe really build a competitive, independent battery supply chain — or has China’s industrial lead already become impossible to close?
Editor’s note
This article was originally published in Italian on money.it by Alessandro Nuzzo on May 07, 2026 as «Un colosso industriale fallisce. Chiude un’altra importante fabbrica europea di batterie». It has been translated and adapted for an international audience by the Money.it International desk.
