American Superconductor to Locate World's First Commercial HTS Wire Manufacturing Facility in Devens, Massachusetts.

Business/Technology Editors

WESTBOROUGH, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2000

New Plant to Start Production of High-Power Density Wires

by January 2002

American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC) announced today the site of a new facility dedicated solely to the manufacturing of High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) wire. The new, green-field plant is expected to produce 10 thousand kilometers of HTS wire in its first year. The company's high power density HTS wire carries more than 100 times the electrical current of copper wire with the same dimensions. Key initial applications for this wire are power cables, industrial motors and electrical generators.

The new 355,000 square foot plant will be built at the Devens Commerce Center, 35 miles northwest of Boston. American Superconductor expects to start occupying the building and training new employees in the summer of 2001. Full production is expected to begin in early 2002.

"I am thrilled that American Superconductor has chosen to build this first-of-a-kind manufacturing facility at Devens," remarked Congressman Marty Meehan, 5th District of Massachusetts. "Massachusetts is looking forward to the continued growth of the superconductor industry and to the many excellent job opportunities that this new industry will be creating within our state."

American Superconductor is the world leader in HTS wire manufacturing. Over the last decade, the company has produced more than 1,000 km of HTS wire for development and demonstration purposes. During the last year, American Superconductor increased its HTS wire manufacturing capacity in its Westborough operations from 250 km to 500 km per year to meet the increased demand for this new product in the near term. The new manufacturing site is designed to meet further increases in demand over the next several years.

The company believes its HTS wire is the lowest cost, highest performance HTS wire in the world. According to industry experts, American Superconductor's HTS wire has twice the power density of its closest competitors.

"Massachusetts is fortunate that American Superconductor has decided to locate this new state-of-the-art facility in our state. The Devens Commerce Center is an ideal place to bring this cutting-edge technology out of the lab and onto the manufacturing floor," said Senator Ted Kennedy. "This new technology is needed to ensure that the nations energy grid will have the ability to deliver reliable power in the amount needed to sustain the continued rapid growth of our high tech economy."

The Devens Commerce Center is a 4,400-acre former military base that is being transformed into a modern industrial and technology-intensive business park. This site was chosen after careful consideration of many sites around the country.

"Lieutenant Governor Swift and I welcome American Superconductor and this exciting new technology to the Devens Commerce Center. The development of new and powerful products such as HTS wire is another shining example of the phenomenal rebirth of the Bay State as a world leader in the expanding global economy. American Superconductor will find that our investment in new infrastructure, an educated and motivated work force and improvements to our quality of life will assure great success for American Superconductor, its employees and the entire Fort Devens area."

"After reviewing several excellent sites around the U.S., we decided to build at Devens," said Greg Yurek, chief executive officer of American Superconductor. "The combination of skilled labor availability, low cost of operations, accessibility to our Westborough technology development facility, a strong incentives package from the State, and flexibility for expansion all contributed to our decision."

Technical Background

Superconductors are materials that carry large quantities of electricity with zero electrical resistance when cooled to very low, or cryogenic temperatures. While superconductors have been known for decades, the only commercial application until recently was in medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) devices. These devices utilize low temperature superconductor (LTS) wires. In 1986, two IBM scientists discovered a new family of superconductor materials that still require cooling to cryogenic temperatures, but that operate at 5 to 20 times higher temperatures than the old LTS materials. The new materials, which are ceramic compounds, have become known as high temperature superconductors (HTS). The lower cost of cooling these new materials significantly enhanced the commercial economics of superconductor applications, and created the possibility of using high power density superconducting wires in electric power applications, such as power cables, motors and generators. American Superconductor has over 200 patents, patent applications and licenses related to the manufacture of HTS wires and the applications of superconductors to electric power applications.

American Superconductor

American Superconductor Corporation, headquartered in Westborough, Mass., was founded in 1987 and is a world leader in developing and manufacturing products utilizing superconducting materials and power electronic devices for electric power applications. The company's products, and products sold by electrical equipment manufacturers that incorporate its products, can dramatically increase the capacity and reliability of power delivery networks, significantly reduce the manufacturing costs of electrical equipment such as motors and generators, lower electrical operating costs and conserve resources that are used to produce electric power. For more information, please visit us at www.amsuper.com.

Certain statements in this release, including 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 cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include the uncertainties that : the company will be able to obtain the anticipated funding from corporate and government contracts; the company will be able to successfully develop and manufacture commercial products; a robust market will develop for the company's products; and the company will secure anticipated orders. Additionally such factors include: the risk that strategic alliances and other contracts may be terminated; the risk that certain technologies utilized by the company will infringe intellectual property rights of others; the competition encountered by the company, including several large Japanese companies; the amount and timing of the company's future cash requirements and the availability of satisfactory financing sources. Reference is made to these and other factors discussed in the "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operation" section of the company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.