The company also shifted its chemistry focus, and in 2022 it announced a battery with a silicon anode rather than a lithium metal one. That shift could help make the battery easier to manufacture.<\/p>\n
Since then, growth in the EV market has slowed, at least in the US, partly because of major pullbacks in funding from the Trump administration. EV tax credits for drivers, a key piece of support pushing Americans toward electric options, ended in late 2025. With the market for large electric cars in trouble, Hu says, \u201cnow we have to look at every market.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
The AI materials discovery platform on which it\u2019s pinning many of its hopes is called Molecular Universe. The company seeks not only to provide its software to other battery companies but also to identify new battery materials and either license them or sell them to those companies.<\/p>\n
![\"vials](\"https:\/\/wp.technologyreview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/MU-new-discoveryelectrolytes-in-SES-HQ-synthesis-foundry.jpg?w=3000\")
<\/p>\nCOURTESY OF SES AI<\/p>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n
The platform has already identified six new electrolyte materials, according to the company. Hu says one is an additive that could help improve the lifetime of batteries with silicon anodes.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the challenges with silicon anodes is that they tend to swell a lot during use, which can cause physical damage and prevent efficient charging and discharging. To address the problem, the industry typically uses a material called fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC), which can help form an elastic film on the anode so the battery can still charge effectively. That additive can degrade at high temperatures, though, producing gases that can harm a battery\u2019s lifetime. The SES platform identified a compound that works like FEC but doesn\u2019t release those gases.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s long history and deep battery knowledge could help make its platform a useful tool, Hu says. He sees the actual model as less crucial than SES\u2019s domain expertise and data from years of making and testing batteries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBy not actually making the physical battery, we\u2019re actually able to scale and then generate revenue faster,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But some experts are skeptical about the near-term prospects for AI materials discovery to revive the industry. \u201cNew materials development, as much as we thought that was what people wanted (and, frankly, it should be what the cell makers want)\u2014I don’t know that that seems to be the real linchpin of the battery industry\u2019s progress,\u201d says Kara Rodby, a technical principal at Volta Energy Technologies, a venture capital firm that focuses on the energy storage industry.<\/p>\n
Investors are pulling back, and a slowdown in public support is making things difficult for some parts of the battery industry, she adds: \u201cI don\u2019t know that the ability to discover any new material is going to unlock anything new for the battery industry at this point in time.\u201d