What Is in Focus: Why “Precursor-Free” Technology Stands Out More Than the Revenue Forecast
TOP Materials’ precursor-free technology is currently at the stage of skipping the iron phosphate precursor in LFP (lithium iron phosphate) cathode material, and answering the title’s question — breaking free of dependence on Chinese precursors — requires looking at whether this technology can move into the NCM family. According to an Etoday report on August 6, 2026, GL Research forecast that TOP Materials’ three businesses — materials, electrodes, and systems engineering — will grow together on the back of rising demand for data-center ESS (energy storage systems) and robot/drone batteries. From a cell-technology researcher’s standpoint, what is more interesting than the revenue forecast itself is the precursor-free technology.
Looking first at the industry situation, cathode material is usually produced by first turning metals such as nickel, cobalt, and manganese into a precursor (an intermediate raw material that forms the skeleton of the cathode material) and then mixing it with lithium and firing it. According to an SNE Research report cited by CEO Score Daily on March 27, 2025, about 90% of Korea’s imports of NCM (nickel-cobalt-manganese) precursors were reported to be produced in China. That is why technology that skips the precursor process attracts attention from a supply-chain perspective.
The source of tension is that many assess precursor-free technology as still being at an early stage of development. This article answers three questions: what does the precursor-free process skip, how far has TOP Materials come, and what should planning and IP staff check first in this field’s rights landscape?
Basic Principle: Assembling Directly From Raw Materials Instead of Buying Semi-Assembled Parts
The conventional precursor route is similar to a furniture factory that buys semi-assembled parts (the precursor) and performs only the final assembly (firing with lithium). For ternary cathode materials, the precursor is made by a co-precipitation process that precipitates hydroxide particles together from a metal solution; for LFP, iron phosphate (FePO₄) is made first and then reacted with lithium. The concentration of this semi-assembled parts supply in a particular country becomes a supply-chain risk.
Source: reconstructed by the editorial team from reports by The Elec (2024-04-15) and Newspim (2026-04-20)
The precursor-free approach assembles the finished product directly from raw materials without buying semi-assembled parts. An April 15, 2024 report by The Elec described precursor-free cathode material as a solid-state synthesis method that mixes metal raw materials directly with lithium instead of a co-precipitated precursor. The problem is that the particle size and shape once refined at the semi-assembly stage now have to be set in one go. If particles grow unchecked or impurities remain, battery performance falls.
The precursor-free LFP synthesis technology that TOP Materials said it registered on April 20, 2026 was reported to solve this problem with a flux (an auxiliary substance that aids and controls particle growth in high-temperature reactions). The company’s description is as follows.
- What is skipped: The step of first making an iron phosphate precursor
- Key means: Introducing a flux into the synthesis process to control particle growth
- Claimed effects: Crystal-structure stability, optimized particle size, fewer impurities, and improved output characteristics under high-rate charge and discharge
Comparison: The Precursor Route vs. the Precursor-Free Route, and Where TOP Materials Stands Now
| Category | Precursor route | Precursor-free route |
|---|---|---|
| Intermediate raw material | Co-precipitated precursor for NCM; iron phosphate (FePO₄) for LFP | Raw materials react directly without a separate precursor |
| Supply chain | About 90% of NCM precursor imports made in China (reported) | Simplified to sourcing metal and lithium raw materials |
| Particle control | Particle shape adjusted at the precursor stage | Must be controlled in one go at the firing stage |
| Environmental burden | Wastewater generated in the precursor process | Reduced wastewater expected (reported) |
| Maturity | Standard mass-production process | Assessed as early-stage development (2024 report) |
Source: compiled by the editorial team from The Elec (2024-04-15), CEO Score Daily (2025-03-27, citing SNE Research), and Newspim (2026-04-20)
What this table says: The precursor-free route is a path that can structurally bypass the dependence on Chinese NCM precursors reported at about 90%, but it moves the difficult problem of particle control to the firing stage. The supply-chain advantage and the quality challenge move as a pair.
| Business segment | Disclosed status | Technical significance |
|---|---|---|
| Cathode materials | 3,000-ton-per-year LFP facility in Pyeongtaek Brain City; plans to expand to mid-nickel NCM and high-manganese (LMNO, LMRO) | Whether precursor-free moves into NCM is the key |
| Electrode foundry | References from 43 companies, including 22 domestic and 21 overseas; talks to supply anode electrodes for North American defense-drone batteries | A channel to validate materials and electrodes together |
| Systems engineering | Order backlog of KRW 47.74 billion at end of Q1; US subsidiary established; KRW 5.29 billion assembly-line retrofit contract | Equipment and process capability backs materials mass production |
Source: compiled by the editorial team from GL Research’s analysis as reported by Etoday (2026-08-06)
What this table says: The confirmed target of precursor-free application is currently LFP, while the NCM family is at the expansion-plan stage. On the other hand, the 43 electrode references mean that a channel already exists to test new materials in actual electrodes.
TOP Materials’ rights activity around LFP has been reported steadily. On April 23, 2025, the registration of a manufacturing-method patent that adds a carboxylic acid with multiple carboxyl groups to the process to enlarge the crystals and crystal grains of the cathode material was reported, and on September 24, 2025, the securing of a patent on a fourth-generation high-compaction-density LFP composite cathode active material claiming a compaction density of 2.6g/cm³ or more was reported. The company said it is building and commissioning third-generation LFP mass-production equipment at its Pyeongtaek plant while running pilot validation of fourth-generation LFP. On December 23, 2025, it announced that it would pursue battery-cell manufacturing cooperation with SES AI for drones and UAM (urban air mobility), based at the Chungju plant.
Patent Perspective: How Is “No Precursor” Read in a Claim?
Status of TOP Materials’ patent: The reported precursor-free LFP synthesis patent (registration announced April 20, 2026) had no registration number given in the articles, and within the scope of this work the corresponding document could not be identified on Google Patents either. The claim wording therefore cannot be confirmed from published patent information, and the registration number and independent-claim structure are left as tracking points to be confirmed through a KIPRIS (Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service) search.
An example of adjacent rights: KR102443307B1: A granted patent in the “single-step synthesis” family close to precursor-free is KR102443307B1 (“Single-Step Synthesis of Lithium-Ion Battery Cathode Material Precursors,” publication number KR20190127671A). On Google Patents, the owner is Canada’s Nano One Materials Corp, with a priority date of January 18, 2017, a filing date of January 17, 2018, a grant date of September 15, 2022, a legal status of Active, and an anticipated expiration of January 17, 2038.
Restating the gist of claim 1, it is a method in which a decomposable metal feedstock and a multi-carboxylic acid (typically oxalic acid) are placed in one solution, the feedstock decomposes so that the metal salt precipitates as a multi-carboxylic acid salt to form an oxide precursor, and this is then heated to obtain the cathode material. In other words, the precursor is not bought from outside, but an intermediate is formed within the same reaction.
Source: reconstructed by the editorial team from the claims of KR102443307B1
Insight: “precursor-free” is a marketing term, and the rights analysis turns on “whether an intermediate forms.” The expression precursor-free is used to mean skipping the step of buying a precursor from outside, but claims usually limit, as steps, what is formed during the process. So the explanation “we do not use a precursor” alone does not make it safe to conclude that distance is secured from rights such as KR102443307B1 that claim the formation of an intermediate during the reaction. In particular, the patent whose registration TOP Materials announced in 2025 was also reported to use a multi-carboxylic acid, so the reaction steps of the two technologies need to be compared one-to-one.
Avoidance points: The key limitation of KR102443307B1 is the step in which an oxide precursor forms through decomposition of the metal feedstock and precipitation of a multi-carboxylic acid salt. Solid-state synthesis that directly mixes and fires solid raw materials without a solution reaction, or processes such as flux-mediated reactions that do not go through a multi-carboxylic acid salt precipitation step, may lack this element.
Design-around scenario (counterargument): Even in solid-state synthesis, however, if an added multi-carboxylic acid forms salts with the metals during heating before firing, it may be argued that substantially the same intermediate forms regardless of whether precipitation occurs. In that case, the potential for infringement may be disputed over the doctrine of equivalents or the construction of claim terms (“solution,” “precipitate”). Ultimately, the avoidance potential can be judged only with analysis data on the intermediate products of the actual process.
Limits and Outlook
Even if precursor-free LFP is successfully mass-produced, there is a limit in scope to breaking free of dependence on Chinese precursors, as the title asks. The reported dependence of about 90% is based on NCM precursors, while the confirmed target of TOP Materials’ precursor-free technology is currently LFP. The title’s question can be answered in earnest only when the plan to expand into mid-nickel NCM and high-manganese families leads to actual mass-production data.
The optimistic outlook is that particle-control technology validated in LFP will move to NCM and structurally reduce dependence on precursor imports. There is also a counter-scenario. Nickel-based materials have more demanding requirements for particle shape and compositional uniformity than LFP, so if solid-state synthesis cannot reproduce the uniformity that co-precipitated precursors provided, a quality gap with existing precursor-route products may surface at the customer qualification stage. Also, if sourcing of the metal raw materials themselves remains concentrated in particular countries, skipping the precursor step may merely shift the supply-chain risk to the raw-material stage.
A strategic alternative is to view precursor-free not as a “precursor replacement” but as a “precursor sourcing diversification option,” running it in parallel with existing precursor-route lines and dividing its scope of application by product family. Applying it first to products with relatively simple requirements such as LFP and proceeding with NCM from small-volume qualification reduces risk.
Practical action: Planning and IP staff considering precursor-free cathode materials should ask suppliers for analysis data on intermediate products in the process (whether an intermediate forms), and first build an element comparison chart placing this side by side with claim 1 of KR102443307B1 and the independent claims of the supplier’s own granted patents.
Items requiring verification
- The registration number and independent-claim structure of TOP Materials’ precursor-free LFP synthesis patent (registration announced 2026-04-20)
- The location of the 3,000-ton-per-year LFP facility (a 2023 report described a mother line near the Icheon headquarters, a 2026 report Pyeongtaek Brain City) and its start of operation
- Demonstration data applying precursor-free technology to mid-nickel NCM and high-manganese families
- Whether the talks to supply anode electrodes for North American defense-drone batteries have led to a contract
- Overseas family grants of KR102443307B1
Sources
- Etoday, GL Research: “TOP Materials responding to battery demand… growth expected in electrodes and cathode materials” (2026-08-06)
- Newspim, TOP Materials registers patent for precursor-free LFP synthesis technology (2026-04-20)
- Finance Scope, TOP Materials completes patent registration for “precursor-free LFP synthesis technology” (2026-04-20)
- Edaily, TOP Materials registers “patent related to secondary-battery cathode active material manufacturing” (2025-04-23)
- Newsprime, TOP Materials secures fourth-generation high-compaction-density LFP patent (2025-09-24)
- Etoday, TOP Materials succeeds in developing high-performance lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode material (2023-10-23)
- ZDNet Korea, SES AI and TOP Materials to jointly develop “drone batteries” (2025-12-23)
- The Elec, “Precursor-free cathode materials” that cathode makers are focused on… could reduce China dependence, but commercialization is “not yet” (2024-04-15)
- CEO Score Daily, Battery market stirs, precursors also pick up… breaking China dependence remains a “task” (2025-03-27)
- Google Patents, KR102443307B1 – Single-step synthesis of lithium-ion battery cathode material precursors (Nano One Materials Corp)
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