Once again, "sky-high" trade secret rights protection! Tianci Materials sues former chief engineer and 11 others, claiming nearly 1.5 billion yuan in damages

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Reporter | Chen Pengli Editor | Wei Guanhong

Within a year, two “sky-high” compensation claims, both pointing to the same former key employee. Domestic electrolyte leader Tianci Materials (SZ002709, stock price 45.75 yuan, market value 93.26 billion yuan) is fiercely defending its “technology safeguard battle.”

On the evening of April 1, Tianci Materials announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Jiujiang Tianci High-tech Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Jiujiang Tianci”) has filed a lawsuit over trade secret infringement disputes against Shenzhen Yanyi New Materials Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Shenzhen Yanyi”), Zhejiang Yanyi New Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Zhejiang Yanyi”), and 10 other parties including the company’s former chief engineer Li Sheng, claiming damages of up to 1.47B yuan.

This is less than a year after the company’s previous lawsuit for nearly 900 million yuan over trade secret leaks. Among the core defendants in both cases, the former chief engineer Li Sheng appears again. According to reports, in 2025, Li Sheng, Zheng Feilong, and others were sentenced by judicial authorities for violating trade secrets.

According to Tianci Materials’ announcement, the plaintiff in this lawsuit is its wholly owned subsidiary Jiujiang Tianci. The defendants include Shenzhen Yanyi, Zhejiang Yanyi, and Li Sheng, Zheng Feilong, among a total of 12 parties.

The complaint states that Li Sheng, during his tenure at Jiujiang Tianci (from August 2017 to May 2021), served successively as Director of Process Technology and Chief Engineer of the battery production department, and signed a “Trade Secret and Non-Compete Agreement” with Jiujiang Tianci. However, in pursuit of illegal profits, Li Sheng obtained trade secrets such as the industrialization technology for liquid lithium hexafluorophosphate and liquid bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide lithium through theft, illegal copying, and other improper means. Shenzhen Yanyi, Zhejiang Yanyi, Yue Min, Zhang Chunhui, Tian Xiaobo, and others illegally obtained these trade secrets from Li Sheng through improper means and applied them in Zhejiang Yanyi’s specific projects—“Annual Production of 10k Tons of Bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide Lithium” and “Annual Production of 100k Tons of Liquid Lithium Hexafluorophosphate.”

Public information shows that this is Tianci Materials’ second major trade secret lawsuit related to former employee Li Sheng. In July 2025, Tianci Materials announced a lawsuit against Zhejiang Yongtai Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Yongtai Technology”) and 11 other parties, claiming economic damages of 887 million yuan. Li Sheng was also a core defendant in that case. At that time, Tianci accused Li Sheng of collaborating with others to use the liquid lithium hexafluorophosphate process technology he illegally obtained in Yongtai Technology’s subsidiary’s project to produce 134k tons of liquid lithium salts annually.

According to previous disclosures, Li Sheng, Zheng Feilong, and others have been sentenced by judicial authorities for violating trade secrets. For example, a final judgment disclosed in September 2025 showed that Li Sheng and Zheng Feilong were sentenced to three years and three months, and two years and three months in prison respectively, for leaking core technology of liquid lithium hexafluorophosphate, with fines of 4.5 million yuan and 1.5 million yuan respectively.

Behind the company’s aggressive “sky-high” litigation to defend its rights, Tianci Materials achieved revenue of 16.65 billion yuan last year, a year-on-year increase of 33%; net profit attributable to the parent was 10k yuan, a significant increase of 181.43%. The company’s core product, electrolyte sales, grew strongly, with annual sales exceeding 720k tons, up about 44% year-on-year.

In its annual report, Tianci Materials listed “innovative R&D and process engineering technology advantages” as the top core competitiveness. By the end of 2025, the company had applied for over 1,300 patents, with 692 granted. Its liquid lithium hexafluorophosphate process technology is considered to have significantly lower unit capacity investment and production costs compared to industry averages.

As a core subsidiary, Jiujiang Tianci achieved revenue of 100k yuan and net profit of 866 million yuan last year.

On the evening of April 1, Tianci Materials stated in its announcement that in this lawsuit, Jiujiang Tianci, as the plaintiff, claims its right to compensation for trade secret infringement. It is not expected to have a direct negative impact on the company’s current period profit and loss. However, since the case has not yet gone to court, and settlement or mediation may be reached during the process, the company currently cannot determine the impact of this lawsuit on future profits.

Tianci Materials disclosed in its March 10, 2025 annual report that the lawsuit against Yongtai Technology for trade secret infringement is still in the first-instance trial, with no judgment issued yet.

Cover image source: AIGC