Why this battery company is pivoting to AI

SES AI, a Massachusetts-based battery company founded from MIT research, is pivoting from manufacturing lithium metal batteries for EVs to an AI-driven materials discovery platform. CEO Qichao Hu argues that Western battery companies cannot build sustainable businesses competing against overseas manufacturers, prompting the shift to licensing its AI platform or selling discovered materials. The company still produces batteries for smaller markets like drones but has abandoned high-volume EV production amid a wave of US battery company closures.