Skellefteå AIK were founded in 1921 but only started competing in the local league Skellefteserien in 1943. Twelve years later they qualified for the highest league in Sweden, where they remained for a substantial period. In 1975, the Swedish Elite League was named Elitserien and the club became champions three years later. In the '90s the club played in the second-tier Allsvenskan but made it back to the Elitserien in 2006/07, where they have played since.

Despite only winning the Swedish championship three times in their history (1978, 2013, 2014), they have established themselves as a strong contender for the national title each season by reaching the finals on seven occasions in the last nine years (2010-2019).

Semi-Finalists of the inaugural 2014/15 Champions Hockey League season, Skellefteå's European record hasn’t followed their league success of the past years, having not made it past the Quarter-Finals since. In 2015/16 they fell to HC Davos in the Quarters and in 2018/19 it was HC Pilsen stopping them in a shootout. In 2019/20 they won their group but fell to fellow Swedish club Djurgården Stockholm in the Round of 16. The 2020/21 campaign will be their sixth CHL appearance in seven seasons.