Cross-border photovoltaics lost the equivalent of 8 years of profit in 1 year, Tianyi New Materials and others welcome the "White Knight" from the Unigroup system

Why does the Tsinghua-backed “Purple Light System” favor Tianyi New Materials’ new material technology?

Another listed company that fell into crisis due to its transformation into the photovoltaic industry has finally found its “white knight.”

Huaxia Energy Network has learned that on March 17, Tianyi New Materials (SH: 688033) announced that the company, interim management, and industry investors have respectively signed the “Restructuring Investment Agreement.” If this restructuring succeeds, the company’s controlling shareholder will change to Beijing New Purple Material Zhi Technology Partnership (Limited Partnership) (hereinafter referred to as “New Purple Material Zhi”).

It is worth noting that New Purple Material Zhi is a subsidiary of Beijing Tsinghua Unigroup Co., Ltd. (hereinafter “Tsinghua Unigroup”). Tsinghua Unigroup is a wholly owned subsidiary of the new Tsinghua Group, formerly the Tsinghua University Science and Technology Development Corporation, a leading enterprise in China’s large-scale integrated circuit industry, holding stakes in multiple A-share listed companies such as Unigroup and UNISOC.

Tianyi New Materials was originally a manufacturer of high-speed train brake calipers, a core supplier of the “Fuxing” high-speed train braking system. Since 2022, it has been transforming into the photovoltaic industry, focusing on quartz crucible products. However, starting in 2024, the company has been suffering continuous losses. After unsuccessful attempts to recover debts from creditors, it was sued in court. Since this year, Tianyi New Materials and its subsidiaries’ special accounts for fundraising have been judicially frozen 21 times, totaling about 50 million yuan.

So, why would a company with a Tsinghua background and belonging to the “Purple Light System” be interested in Tianyi New Materials? After this ownership change, can Tianyi New Materials regain vitality?

Star Company on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board Crosses Over, Photovoltaics Become Main Business

Wu Peifang, founder of Tianyi New Materials, born in 1961, has served as acting director of Beijing Friction Material Factory, director of Beijing Superhard Material Factory, director of Beijing Shangdi Hard Alloy Tool Factory, and general manager of Shangjia Alloys Co., Ltd. Known for her strong and tough style, she is often called the “Second Dong Mingzhu” in the industry.

In 2009, Wu Peifang founded Tianyi New Materials, whose main business is the research and development of brake calipers for high-speed trains, EMUs, and rail transit vehicles. Brake calipers are core components of high-speed train braking systems, used to slow down and stop trains by generating friction with brake discs. China’s brake calipers have long relied on imports, with the market largely monopolized by foreign products, which are expensive and costly to maintain and repair later.

Tianyi New Materials has played a key role in domesticating brake calipers. In 2013, its independently developed products used in cold regions achieved import substitution on the Harbin-Dalian line, effectively solving the problem of abnormal brake disc wear caused by harsh winter weather. This reduced the price of imported calipers by more than half.

Since then, Tianyi New Materials has become the first solution provider for brake calipers for the 350 km/h “Fuxing” trains and the 250 km/h “Fuxing” trains, and has won the most bids in the China Railway Group’s joint procurement of EMU brake calipers, as well as the most cooperative maintenance projects with railway bureaus. By 2018, the company’s products had a market share of about 50% on the Harmony EMU trains and 100% on the Fuxing trains.

On July 22, 2019, Tianyi New Materials, as one of the first batch of companies listed on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board, officially listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

After going public, Wu Peifang began to push for expansion, forming four major business segments: rail transit, photovoltaic new energy, aerospace, and automotive. Among these, the photovoltaic business developed the fastest and quickly surpassed the traditional rail transit brake business, becoming the company’s largest pillar industry. By 2023, photovoltaic accounted for as much as 82.86% of Tianyi New Materials’ main revenue.

In fact, Tianyi New Materials started exploring the photovoltaic industry as early as 2017, mainly focusing on the development of carbon-carbon and carbon-ceramic products. After listing, the company significantly increased its investment in photovoltaics. In 2021, it established subsidiaries in Beijing and Sichuan, dedicated to in-depth R&D and sales of carbon-carbon and carbon-ceramic products in the photovoltaic sector. In November 2022, Tianyi New Materials acquired Jiangsu Jingyiyang New Material Technology Co., Ltd., to expand into quartz crucible manufacturing for photovoltaics.

With the support of the photovoltaic business, Tianyi New Materials’ revenue rapidly expanded. Before 2022, its revenue never exceeded 1 billion yuan. By 2023, revenue soared to 2.11 billion yuan, a 113% increase, surpassing the total of the past three years. Among this, the photovoltaic segment alone generated 1.75B yuan, up 198.83% year-on-year.

Eights Years of Profit Lost in One Year, Fundraising Accounts Drained

While revenue grew significantly, Tianyi New Materials did not enjoy good days. Starting in the second half of 2023, the photovoltaic industry plunged into “involution,” with prices in the supply chain continuously falling, and the entire industry entering a winter period.

Tianyi New Materials’ heavy reliance on photovoltaic revenue became its biggest performance drag. In 2024, the gross profit margin of its photovoltaic products (including photovoltaic carbon-carbon composites and quartz crucibles) was -85.41%, dragging the overall gross margin down to -42.51%. In the first half of 2025, the gross profit margin of photovoltaic products was -35.41%, resulting in a total gross margin of -4.88%.

Before crossing into photovoltaics, Tianyi New Materials, with annual revenue under 1 billion yuan, maintained relatively stable development, with net profit around 200 million yuan annually. But from 2023 onward, its performance changed dramatically: revenue surged, but net profit attributable to the parent decreased by 18.9%, to 144 million yuan. In 2024, the company turned from profit to loss, with a loss of 1.5 billion yuan.

To put this in perspective, from 2016 to 2023, Tianyi New Materials’ total profit over eight years was only 1.56B yuan. That means, in just one year—2024—it lost what it had earned in the previous eight years.

On February 28, 2025, Tianyi New Materials released its performance forecast, indicating that losses would continue to expand, reaching 2.2 billion yuan.

Tianyi New Materials’ Profits Plummet in 2024 and 2025 (Source: Company Financial Reports)

Along with poor performance, management issues have also emerged.

From March to May 2024, Wu Peifang was suddenly detained by supervisory authorities. The reason was not disclosed, but industry speculation suggests anti-corruption investigations. Tianyi New Materials’ core business of high-speed train brake calipers involves long-term dealings with central and state-owned enterprises, so “being close to the river” sometimes results in trouble. At the end of last year, President Meng Li and Vice President Chui Yanming resigned simultaneously, possibly related to poor performance.

Financially, as of the third quarter of 2025, Tianyi New Materials had only 187 million yuan in cash, while short-term loans reached 700 million yuan. The company admitted that its debt repayment capacity was limited, and cash shortages had become a major issue.

Huaxia Energy Network notes that since 2025, due to debt issues, Tianyi New Materials and its subsidiaries have been sued by multiple financial institutions and suppliers. Tianyancha shows that from 2025 to now, the company has 24 judicial cases, all as a defendant; 12 enforcement cases with a total enforced amount of 120 million yuan. Since February this year, Tianyi New Materials has issued 13 announcements, nine of which concern judicial freezing or bank withholding of fundraising accounts.

Because of these lawsuits, some of the company’s fundraising accounts have been sealed or frozen by courts or set as stop-payment by banks, making it impossible to pay funds. As a result, Tianyi New Materials has had to delay the start of projects such as “Automation and Equipment Upgrade of Carbon-Carbon Material Production Line,” “Industrialization of High-Performance Carbon-Ceramic Brake Discs,” and “Automation and Intelligent Upgrade of Quartz Crucible Production Line.”

“Purple Light System” Extends a Helping Hand, Tianyi New Materials Still Faces Uncertain Future

Once a star enterprise, now besieged from all sides, Tianyi New Materials is heading toward bankruptcy reorganization.

On November 7, 2025, the Beijing First Intermediate People’s Court, upon application by creditor Tianjin Shengyu Auto Parts Co., Ltd., decided to initiate pre-reorganization procedures for Tianyi New Materials. After months of public recruitment and selection, the Purple Light Unigroup consortium emerged victorious, with Tsinghua Unigroup and Quanshun jointly designated as the company’s pre-reorganization industry investors.

The announcement shows that the two companies plan to invest about 1.2 billion yuan in total, acquiring Tianyi New Materials’ capital reserve converted into shares at a price of 3.88 yuan per share. Of this, Tsinghua Unigroup invests 813 million yuan, acquiring 15.53% of Tianyi New Materials; Quanshun invests 391 million yuan, acquiring 7.47%.

Among the two investors, Quanshun was founded in 2013, mainly engaged in enterprise-level intelligent network solutions, including routers, gateways, access points, firewalls, SD-WAN, and edge computing, controlled by individual Zhao Dongfang.

Tsinghua Unigroup, on the other hand, is a well-known name, with its parent company being the new Purple Light Group.

In 1988, Tsinghua University established the Science and Technology Development Corporation, and in 1993, Tsinghua Group was officially founded. Its subsidiaries include Unigroup Zhanrui, Guoxin Jingyuan, Xi’an Purple Light Guoxin, Tsinghua Holdings, New H3C, UNISOC, and others. In 2022, Tsinghua Group completed asset restructuring, with the original shareholders Tsinghua Holdings and Jian Kun Investment withdrawing, and the group being wholly owned by Zhiguang Core. In 2024, Tsinghua Group announced it would rename itself as the New Purple Light Group.

It is noteworthy that the parent company of the New Purple Light Group, Zhiguang Core, is an investment platform composed of multiple state-owned and industrial capital, with no actual controlling shareholder. Therefore, if this restructuring is completed, control of Tianyi New Materials will transfer to the “Purple Light System,” and the company will become a company with no actual controlling shareholder.

Securing the support of the “Purple Light System” is undoubtedly valuable for Tianyi New Materials to escape its financial crisis. But why would the “Purple Light System” take action to acquire Tianyi New Materials? Industry insiders believe that since the “Purple Light System” holds resources across the entire semiconductor industry chain, it may be interested in Tianyi New Materials’ accumulated technology and capacity in new materials such as carbon-carbon composites and quartz products, which could synergize with the existing semiconductor industry chain.

However, Tianyi New Materials’ technology and capacity are somewhat “virtual,” raising doubts about how much value they can bring to the new Purple Light.

The announcement shows that as of November 30, 2025, Tianyi New Materials has 28 quartz crucible production lines with a capacity of 180k units. Due to some lines still undergoing upgrades, the actual usable capacity is 110k units. From January to November 2025, Tianqi Yiyang and Xinyi Yang produced 14,786 quartz crucibles, with a utilization rate of only 14.66%.

Huaxia Energy Network notes that in December last year, Tianyi New Materials had already halted production of Tianqi Yiyang and Xinyi Yang. Restarting is not a quick matter. For the new Purple Light Group, there may be little interest in resuming quartz crucible production lines to continue losing money in the photovoltaic industry.

How much the new Purple Light Group will spend and whether it can pull Tianyi New Materials back from the brink of death remains highly uncertain.

Author’s statement: Personal opinions only, for reference.