AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Superconductor Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:SCON) ("STI"), a world leader in the development and production of high temperature superconducting (HTS) materials and associated technologies, signed a product development agreement with a global market leader to develop its innovative Reconfigurable Resonance™ (RcR) technology in the rapidly growing mobile communications products industry.

Jeff Quiram, STI's president and chief executive officer said, "While our main focus continues to be 2G HTS wire, STI has long sought to exploit other parts of its intellectual property portfolio where opportunities present themselves. This agreement is the result of these ongoing efforts. Our RcR technology shows exciting promise and this agreement is an important validation of our strategy."

The planned development project intends to advance STI's proprietary RcR technology from innovation to commercialization. STI developed this novel technology by extending its world-leading expertise in analog passive circuit design into the arena of active analog circuitry. This research effort has produced an entirely new circuit design methodology, which has the potential to be broadly applicable to many of the critical challenges facing analog circuit design today.

STI's newly formed subsidiary, Resonant Inc., entered the product development agreement, and will have responsibility for the development effort. Resonant will require financing in order to commence active development, and STI is currently exploring financing options. While there is no assurance as to whether Resonant will obtain the necessary financing, STI expects to transfer the RcR technology and related personnel to Resonant when such financing is obtained. The creation of this new entity positions STI to advance one of several innovative technologies that are distinctly separate from the Company's primary focus on HTS wire development.

The development agreement includes quarterly milestones with a project scope that involves development and qualification testing of new mobile communications products using STI's RcR technology for sales into an existing multi-billion dollar mobile communications market.

About Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI)

Superconductor Technologies Inc., founded in Santa Barbara, CA, and now headquartered in Austin, TX, 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.

Contacts

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