Superconductor Technologies Inc. Takes Possession of Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Austin, TX

- On track to accept equipment delivery in Q1 2012 -

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Jan. 10, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Superconductor Technologies Inc. SCON ("STI"), a world leader in the development and production of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials and associated technologies, took possession of its Austin Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence (AMCE) facility effective January 1, 2012. The 94,000 square foot building is located in the heart of Austin's premiere industrial sector at 9101 Wall Street. STI is preparing the building for the installation of HTS wire manufacturing equipment beginning in the first quarter of 2012.

Jeff Quiram, STI's president and chief executive officer, said, "The opening of our AMCE facility in Austin is an important milestone for STI that places us on track to achieve commercial availability of HTS wire in 2013. This new facility positions us to meet the growing expectations of our prospective HTS wire customers by significantly increasing our production capacity. While we did not consummate a commercial agreement last year as we had expected, we are actively pursuing a number of exciting commercial HTS wire opportunities. STI is committed to working closely with the industry leaders in HTS devices by providing meaningful quantities of our Conductus^® 2G HTS wire." 

Bob Johnson, STI's vice president of operations, stated: "This Class A facility in Austin is an ideal site for our HTS wire AMCE that will incorporate all of our HTS wire processes under one roof. Our manufacturing strategy integrates all value-add stages of the process, from technology development to volume production and finally shipping the end-product from one facility. Our AMCE concept allows instant feedback to co-located processes where ideas, inspirations, improvements and corrective action control measures are streamlined and aligned." 

While STI is relocating its corporate headquarters to Austin, it will continue to maintain a presence in Santa Barbara, CA for its existing R&D, certain business operations and commercial wireless business. Also, effective January 1, 2012, STI subleased a significant portion of its Santa Barbara facility in an effort to streamline its wireless product manufacturing footprint and begin the relocation of its corporate offices to Austin, where it expects the majority of the new personnel for the HTS wire program to reside. 

About Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI)

Superconductor Technologies Inc., headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, has been a world leader in HTS materials since 1987, developing more than 100 patents as well as proprietary trade secrets and manufacturing expertise. For more than a decade, STI has been providing innovative interference elimination and network enhancement solutions to the commercial wireless industry. The company is currently leveraging its key enabling technologies, including RF filtering, HTS materials and cryogenics to develop energy efficient, cost-effective and high performance second generation (2G) HTS wire for existing and emerging power applications, to develop applications for advanced RF wireless solutions and innovative adaptive filtering, and for government R&D. Superconductor Technologies Inc.'s common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market under the ticker symbol "SCON." For more information about STI, please visit http://www.suptech.com.

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Safe Harbor Statement 

Statements in this press release regarding our business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are inherently subject to uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements. These factors and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: our limited cash and a history of losses; the limited number of potential customers; the limited number of suppliers for some of our components; there being no significant backlog from quarter to quarter; our market being characterized by rapidly advancing technology; overcoming technical challenges in attaining milestones to develop and manufacture commercial lengths of our HTS wire; customer acceptance of our HTS wire; fluctuations in product demand from quarter to quarter; the impact of competitive filter products, technologies and pricing; manufacturing capacity constraints and difficulties; and local, regional, and national and international economic conditions and events and the impact they may have on us and our customers, such as the current worldwide recession.

Forward-looking statements can be affected by many other factors, including, those described in the "Business" and "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" sections of STI's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 and in STI's other public filings. These documents are available online at STI's website, www.suptech.com, or through the SEC's website, www.sec.gov. Forward-looking statements are based on information presently available to senior management, and STI has not assumed any duty to update any forward-looking statements.

Contact

For further information please contact Investor Relations, invest@suptech.com, Cathy Mattison or Kirsten Chapman of LHA, +1-415-433-3777, for Superconductor Technologies Inc.