Institution of Electrical Engineers' Viscount Nuffield Medal
Awarded to CEO Greg Yurek;

Engineering Society Cites AMSC Founder's
Global Industry and Technology Leadership

LONDON, Dec. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading electricity solutions company, today announced that its president and CEO, Dr. Greg Yurek, has been honored by the London-based Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) with their 2003 Viscount Nuffield Silver Medal and was also named a fellow of the IEE.  The Viscount Nuffield Silver Medal is awarded for a most meritorious contribution to the manufacturing profession.  Dr. Yurek received the medal for his global industry and technology leadership in high temperature superconductor (HTS) products and for establishing the world's first commercial volume HTS wire production facility.  In conjunction with receipt of the award, Yurek will deliver the Viscount Nuffield / Mensforth Lecture at Savoy Place in London. For more information about the lecture, please visit www.iee.org/events/nuffieldmensforth.cfm. A copy of Dr. Yurek's presentation is available at www.amsuper.com.

"Advanced materials, such as optical fiber and semiconductors can take decades to move from discovery to full commercialization," said John Loughhead, vice president of the IEE.  "Thanks to Dr. Yurek's vision and leadership, super-efficient high temperature superconductor products that stabilize and upgrade the electrical transmission grid, propel ships and generate electricity have become a reality in less than 16 years.  Today we honor Dr. Yurek for the remarkable achievement of driving HTS technologies from the lab to the manufacturing floor -- an achievement that has created an entirely new, growing global market for superconductor products."

AMSC's manufacturing plant in Devens, Massachusetts, USA, is the world's first commercial-volume production facility for HTS wire.  It has an annual production capacity of 900,000 meters of wire.  Since commercial production began in January 2003, AMSC has received orders for over 700,000 meters of HTS wire from 21 customers in 9 countries.  For more information on AMSC's HTS wire, please visit http://www.amsuper.com/

About American Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC) AMSC is a world-leading supplier of dynamic reactive power grid stabilization products and the world's principal vendor of high temperature superconductor (HTS) wire and large rotating superconductor machinery.  AMSC's power electronic converters and HTS wire are at the core of a broad range of new electricity transmission and distribution, transportation, medical and industrial processing applications, including dynamic reactive power grid stabilization solutions, large ship propulsion motors and generators, smart, controllable, superconductor power cables and advanced defense systems.  The company's products are supported by hundreds of patents and licenses covering technologies fundamental to Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity(TM).  More information is available at www.amsuper.com . American Superconductor and Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity are trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, 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: uncertainties regarding the Company's ability to obtain anticipated funding from corporate and government contracts, to successfully develop, manufacture and market commercial products, and to secure anticipated orders; the risk that a robust market may not develop for the Company's products; 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. 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 most recent quarterly or annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views 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 this press release is issued.