Realizing topological spin textures such as skyrmions in two-dimensional magnets has attracted significant attention in recent years. Most efforts focus on breaking inversion symmetry to induce Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI), which is often difficult to implement experimentally. Here, using first-principles calculations and Monte Carlo simulations, we predict that strain can drive the spontaneous formation of anti-biskyrmions (A2SK) in the centrosymmetric $\mathrm{V}{\mathrm{I}}_2$. We identify the bond-dependent Kitaev interaction—together with exchange frustration—as the key ingredient that stabilizes a topologically nontrivial lattice without DMI. The same mechanism can explain the A2SK recently predicted in monolayer $\mathrm{Ni}{\mathrm{I}}_2$. Our work thus leads to a better understanding of the formation of topological spin textures in centrosymmetric metal dihalides, and establishes Kitaev interaction as a new route to engineer such exotic states.

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• Magnetism
• Skyrmions
• Metal halides
• Monolayer films
• van der Waals systems
• Density functional calculations
• Kitaev model