The management of Northvolt somehow had the idea, that by partnering with Wuxi Lead, a leading Chinese supplier of industrial machinery, specializing in the production of equipment used in lithium-ion battery manufacturing, they could build battery manufacturing in Europe intended to directly compete with Chinese battery manufacturers.

https://thedeepdive.ca/did-china-sabotage-northvolt-unraveli...

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202602/1354840.shtml

There were ideas for German car battery manufacturing by Germany's Robert Bosch, the world's biggest automotive supplier, long before Northvolt. But Bosch decided that battery manufacturing it was too low margin business.

""Given dynamic external market factors that can only be predicted with difficulty, it is unclear whether this investment would pay off for Bosch, and when," Bosch said in a statement on Wednesday."

https://www.reuters.com/article/business/bosch-shuns-battery...