DEVENS, Mass., June 5, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AMSC (Nasdaq:AMSC), a global solutions provider serving wind and grid leaders, today announced that it acquired exclusive rights to a fundamental high temperature superconductor (HTS) patent in the U.S. The patent covers a broad range of second generation (2G) and similar HTS materials, wire and power-related applications. Additional information on the patent can be found in the Form 10-K that AMSC plans to file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission later this month.

HTS materials and wire can enable dramatic reductions in the footprint and cost of megawatt-scale electrical equipment, such as power cables, motors and generators. Due to its reduced precious metal requirement and the process that is employed in its manufacturing, 2G wire is expected to be significantly less expensive to produce than first generation HTS wire when in high-volume production. This type of wire is currently being manufactured by many companies around the world, including AMSC.

"Since their discovery more than 25 years ago, HTS materials have been heralded for their promise to transform the generation, transmission and distribution of electrical power," said Daniel P. McGahn, President and CEO, AMSC. "Along with our partners worldwide, we at AMSC have begun to deliver on that promise with industry-leading capacity, production and order rates. Underlying our market position is an unparalleled intellectual property portfolio. This new license further strengthens this position and our ability to serve the U.S. market's 2G needs for years to come."

Over the course of the past two decades, HTS wire has been utilized to develop and deploy a variety of megawatt-scale systems, including:

• "Smart" power cables: Ideal for transmitting and distributing both direct current (DC) and alternating current (AC), superconductors can significantly boost power throughput, improve network efficiency, redundancy and reliability, reduce fault current levels and lower capital expenditures for electric utilities.
• Fault current limiters: These smart grid systems can help protect the grid by reducing the destructive nature of faults, thereby saving utilities equipment replacement and repair costs as well as avoiding outages and helping to ensure customer satisfaction.
• Wind turbine generators: The superior power density of HTS can enable smaller, lighter and more efficient wind generators that can be utilized to field higher power wind turbines and lower the overall cost of offshore wind power.
• Motors: Ultra-compact electric motors made with HTS tend to be half the size and weight of conventional copper-based motors of the same power and torque ratings. This can lead to significant space, weight and fuel savings for commercial and military ships.

About AMSC's Amperium® Wire

Amperium wire is AMSC's brand name for its 2G HTS wire. Amperium wire offers significantly higher power density and efficiency compared with similar copper-based wire products. As a result, electrical systems that incorporate Amperium wire are dramatically smaller, lighter and often more cost effective than comparable systems based on copper wire. Amperium wire is manufactured utilizing a proprietary process at AMSC's headquarters in Devens, Massachusetts - the world's largest commercial-scale HTS wire manufacturing facility. To learn more, visit www.amsc.com/products/amperiumwire.

About AMSC (Nasdaq:AMSC)

AMSC generates the ideas, technologies and solutions that meet the world's demand for smarter, cleaner … better energy. Through its Windtec Solutions, AMSC enables manufacturers to launch best-in-class wind turbines quickly, effectively and profitably. Through its Gridtec Solutions, AMSC provides the engineering planning services and advanced grid systems that optimize network reliability, efficiency and performance. The company's solutions are now powering gigawatts of renewable energy globally and enhancing the performance and reliability of power networks in more than a dozen countries. Founded in 1987, AMSC is headquartered near Boston, Massachusetts with operations in Asia, Australia, Europe and North America. For more information, please visit www.amsc.com.

The AMSC logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=11339

AMSC, Windtec Solutions, Gridtec Solutions and Amperium are trademarks or registered trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation. All other brand names, product names, trademarks or service marks belong to their respective holders.

Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the company, including without limitation our prospects for future growth, expectations regarding the purchase of additional notes and warrants under the securities purchase agreement, expectations regarding future financial results, liquidity and profitability and other statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are a number of important factors that could materially impact the value of our common stock or cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include: a significant portion of our revenues has been derived from Sinovel Wind Group Co. Ltd., ("Sinovel"), which has stopped accepting scheduled deliveries and refused to pay amounts outstanding; the disruption in our relationship with Sinovel has materially and adversely affected our business and results of operations and if, as we expect, Sinovel continues to refuse to accept shipments from us, our business and results of operations will be further materially and adversely affected; we may seek additional funding in the future and may be unable to raise capital when needed; we have a history of operating losses, and we may incur additional losses in the future; our operating results may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and may fall below expectations in any particular fiscal quarter; changes in exchange rates could adversely affect our results from operations; we have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and if we fail to remediate these weaknesses and maintain proper and effective internal controls over financial reporting, our ability to produce accurate and timely financial statements could be impaired and may lead investors and other users to lose confidence in our financial data; if we fail to implement our business strategy successfully, our financial performance could be harmed; we may not realize all of the sales expected from our backlog of orders and contracts; many of our revenue opportunities are dependent upon subcontractors and other business collaborators; our products face intense competition, which could limit our ability to acquire or retain customers; our success is dependent upon attracting and retaining qualified personnel and our inability to do so could significantly damage our business and prospects; we may acquire additional complementary businesses or technologies, which may require us to incur substantial costs for which we may never realize the anticipated benefits; our international operations are subject to risks that we do not face in the United States, which could have an adverse effect on our operating results; we depend on sales to customers in China, and global conditions could negatively affect our operating results or limit our ability to expand our operations outside of China; changes in China's political, social, regulatory and economic environment may affect our financial performance; many of our customer relationships outside of the United States are, either directly or indirectly, with governmental entities, and we could be adversely affected by violations of the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar worldwide anti-bribery laws outside the United States; we rely upon third party suppliers for the components and subassemblies of many of our Wind and Grid products, making us vulnerable to supply shortages and price fluctuations, which could harm our business; we are becoming increasingly reliant on contracts that require the issuance of performance bonds; problems with product quality or product performance may cause us to incur warranty expenses and may damage our market reputation and prevent us from achieving increased sales and market share; our success in addressing the wind energy market is dependent on the manufacturers that license our designs; growth of the wind energy market depends largely on the availability and size of government subsidies and economic incentives; there are a number of technological challenges that must be successfully addressed before our superconductor products can gain widespread commercial acceptance, and our inability to address such technological challenges could adversely affect our ability to acquire customers for our products; we have not manufactured our Amperium wire in commercial quantities, and a failure to manufacture our Amperium wire in commercial quantities at acceptable cost and quality levels would substantially limit our future revenue and profit potential; the commercial uses of superconductor products are limited today, and a widespread commercial market for our products may not develop; we have limited experience in marketing and selling our superconductor products and system-level solutions, and our failure to effectively market and sell our products and solutions could lower our revenue and cash flow; our contracts with the U.S. government are subject to audit, modification or termination by the U.S. government and include certain other provisions in favor of the government; the continued funding of such contracts remains subject to annual congressional appropriation which, if not approved, could reduce our revenue and lower or eliminate our profit; we may be unable to adequately prevent disclosure of trade secrets and other proprietary information; we have filed a demand for arbitration and other lawsuits against Sinovel regarding amounts we contend are due and owing and are in dispute; we cannot be certain as to the outcome of the proceedings against Sinovel; we have been named as a party to purported stockholder class actions and shareholder derivative complaints, and we may be named in additional litigation, all of which will require significant management time and attention, result in significant legal expenses and may result in an unfavorable outcome, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition; our technology and products could infringe intellectual property rights of others, which may require costly litigation and, if we are not successful, could cause us to pay substantial damages and disrupt our business; our patents may not provide meaningful protection for our technology, which could result in us losing some or all of our market position; third parties have or may acquire patents that cover the materials, processes and technologies we use or may use in the future to manufacture our Amperium products, and our success depends on our ability to license such patents or other proprietary rights; and our common stock has experienced, and may continue to experience, significant market price and volume fluctuations, which may prevent our stockholders from selling our common stock at a profit and could lead to costly litigation against us that could divert our management's attention. Reference is made to many of these factors and others in the "Risk Factors" section of the company's most recent quarterly or annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this release represent the company's expectations as of the date of this release. While the company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the company's views to change, the company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company's views as of any date subsequent to the date of this release.

CONTACT: Jason Fredette

         Phone: 978-842-3177

         Email: jason.fredette@amsc.com