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Filed Pursuant to Rule 433 Registration Statement No. 333-167979 July 19, 2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. NASDAQ CM: SCON


 

(c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2 Registration Statement: The issuer has filed a registration statement (including a prospectus: SEC File No. 333-167979) with the Securities and Exchange Commission or the SEC for the offering to which this communication relates. Before you invest, you should read the prospectus in that registration statement and other documents the issuer has filed with the SEC for more complete information about the issuer and this offering. You may get these documents for free by visiting EDGAR on the SEC Web site at www.sec.gov. Alternatively, the issuer, any underwriter or any dealer participating in the offering will arrange to send you the prospectus if you request it by calling toll-free 1-800-847-5901 or by emailing SCON@mdb.com. Forward Looking Statements: Certain information in this document contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. You can find many (but not all) of these statements by looking for words such as "approximates," "believes," "hopes," "expects," "anticipates," "estimates," "projects," "intends," "plans," "would," "should," "could," "may," "will" or other similar expressions in this document. These forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements 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; fluctuations in product demand from quarter to quarter; the impact of competitive filter products, technologies and pricing; manufacturing capacity constraints and difficulties; local, regional, national and international economic conditions and events and the impact they may have on us and our customers, such as the current worldwide recession; political instability, acts of war or terrorism, or natural disasters; continued volatility in the credit and equity markets and the resulting effect on the general economy; and our success at managing the risks involved in the foregoing items. The forward-looking statements are based upon management's beliefs and assumptions as of the date of this document. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this document or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those contained in such statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws. Readers of this document should consider all risks and uncertainties disclosed in the prospectus referenced above under the heading "Registration Statement" and other our other filings with the SEC, described in the prospectus under the heading "Where You Can Find More Information," all of which are accessible on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.


 

Leveraging Intellectual Property and Manufacturing Expertise for 2G HTS Wire Leverage extensive Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio and manufacturing expertise to develop Second Generation (2G) High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) Wire for large emerging markets: Wind Turbines, Industrial Motors and Generators, Smart Grid, High Power Transmission Cables (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3 1986 1996 1998 1998 2009 Discovery of High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI) Incorporated, HQ: Santa Barbara, California HTS Thin Films for Electronics World leader in Reactive Coevaporation - Cyclic Deposition and Reaction (RCE-CDR) HTS deposition technology SuperLink(r) Product Launch Over $150M in HTS product sales to date with over 6,000 systems deployed with Verizon and AT&T HTS Manufacturing Ecosystem Cost competitive HTS and cryogenics in full scale manufacturing production 2G HTS Wire - Emerging HTS Power Applications STI is focused on attractive markets for HTS technology


 

IP Roadmap Products Primary Materials Sources Current Markets Products Design & Manufacturing Apparata Methods Substrates Materials Wafers Alloy Tapes Rare Earth Metals Barium Copper HTS Thin Film RF Components RF Design Process HTS Filter Process HTS Thin Film RF Components LNA & Trans. RF Designs Sapphire Cryocoolers Multiple Markets Multiple Markets Wireless Infrastructure Base Station Multiple Market Applications Supported with Cryocoolers Cryo Cooler Design Cryopackage Design Cryo Cooler Production Vacuum Bakeout RF Wireless SuperPlex AmpLink SuperLink RF Wireless HTS Wire 2G HTS Wire High Current High Current In Field Energy Transmission Cable Wind Turbine Smart Grid Development Industrial Motors Generators Pumps Healthcare MRI Coolers HTS Wire Future Markets Future Products Apparata Methods High Field 2G HTS Wire HTS Deposition Wafer Finishing Substrate Texturing REBCO Deposition/ Pinning Tape Finishing Filter Tuning SDP IBAD Tape RCE-CDR Tape Finishing Equipment HTS Filter Designs Wafer RCE-CDR Wafer Finishing Equipment Laser Tool Capturing market potential with technology leadership Existing IP used as a foundation for the development of new IP specialization in 2G HTS Wire technology Future markets represent significant potential revenue Existing and developing IP can position STI to enter large emerging markets for 2G HTS Wire 4 (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved.


 

Benefits of HTS high power transmission cables: Reduced right of way requirements Reduced construction costs in urban areas by utilizing existing duct structures Current barriers to commercial success: Cost of cable dependent on the cost of 2G HTS wire and cooling High current capacity requirement make poor performing (low current capacity) 2G wire uneconomical Cost targets for 2G HTS wire are not expected to be met Cooling systems are unreliable and need periodic maintenance (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 5 5 HTS Power Cable Cost: 2G HTS wire represents a large portion of the overall cable cost United States Department of Energy (DOE) Vision for 2G HTS Wire - High Power Transmission Cable


 

Current Design Permanent Magnet 200 tons Future Design Fully Superconducting 70 tons 6 (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. HTS more than doubles generator power 2 -3x power output for an equivalent sized generator 2G HTS wire has very high current density advantage over copper, reducing volume and weight of generators 4 Amps/sq mm (Copper) vs 400 Amps/sq mm(2G HTS Wire) - assuming 500A/cm for 2G HTS wire = 100X improvement Size reductions translate directly to cost savings Reduces the amount of magnetic steel, structural steel and copper coils required Wind Turbines - generator weight sets power per tower - the larger the turbine the higher the Return on Investment (ROI) Trend towards larger, taller, >10MW class rotating machines potentially enabled by HTS (Emerging Energy Research, 2009) "A 10% increase in tower height creates a 33% increase in available energy." (DOE 20% Wind by 2030 Report, 2009) 6 Superconducting turbines and other HTS rotating machines appear to have the largest future potential for 2G HTS wire The Benefit of Megawatt Class Superconducting Rotating Machines


 

7 (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2G HTS Wire represents just a small portion of the overall turbine cost U.S. Onshore/Offshore Wind Power Growth 10 MW Wind Turbine Wind Turbine Cost ~ $16-20M Future Target Market - Wind Turbines We believe the HTS wind turbine opportunity provides the largest potential demand for 2G HTS wire More than 300 kilometers (km) of 2G HTS wire required per 10 MW wind turbine Source: Superconducting Wind Turbine Generators, A B Abrahamsen and N Mijatovic, Superconducting Science and Technology, v 23 (2010) 034019 (8pp) Rapid increase in annual demand for greater than 5 MW offshore wind turbines is expected: 270 - 540 units/yr in 2016 grows to 530-1060 units/yr in 2020 Source: Emerging Energy Research - Offshore Wind Report, 2010 Estimated 81,000 kilometers of 2G HTS wire/yr in 2016 We believe that the Total Addressable Market (TAM) expected to exceed $1B by 2016 Source: DOE 20% Wind by 2030 Report, 2009


 

8 Benefits of Fault Current Limiter (FCL): Superconducting properties provide unique benefits fit for this application Protect the electrical grid from damaging fault currents and blackouts While invisible to the grid, FCL's provide immediate response to multiple faults Current barrier to commercial success: Current FCL designs utilize First Generation (1G) superconducting wire which operates at 30 Kelvin (K) Cooling systems are unreliable and need periodic maintenance Gradual technology transition expected - 30K ->> 65K ->> 77K We believe that approximately 250,000 substations exist worldwide Fault Current Limiter (FCL) (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 8


 

Applications Market Market Deployment Commercial Market Power Cables (AC) - DOE Projects 2012 Emerging FCL (Fault Current Limiter) 2012 Emerging Wind Turbine (Generator) 2016 Emerging/ Displacement Industrial Motors and Generators 2016 Displacement MRI 2016 Displacement Smart Grid, DC Power Cables 2017 Emerging 9 STI 2G HTS Wire Initial Roadmap Aligns with Market Demand We are developing three unique 2G HTS wire designs which address applications with unmet customer demand: We believe that customer demand through 2011 will continue to exceed availability of HTS wire provided by American Superconductor (AMSC), SuperPower, and Sumitomo (1G) Power Cable (AC) - DOE Projects Fault Current Limiter (FCL) Wind Turbine (Generator) (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 9


 

10 (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 10 Platter vs. Drum Vacuum Chamber Y, Ba, Cu Sources Adapted HTS Deposition Process


 

(c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 11 We believe that STI's 2G HTS Wire can have a clear cost and performance advantage for the following reasons: Inexpensive substrate material Reduced number of template buffer layers - simple and repeatable Lower direct cost on raw materials Reduced number of deposition process steps - reduced runtime, high yield High throughout, large HTS growth area Lower cap-ex cost than alternative methods 11 11 11 11 SDP IBAD/epi MgO RCE-CDR 2G HTS Wire Engineered for Low Cost Solution Deposition Planarization (SDP) Ion Beam Assisted Deposition (IBAD) Reactive Coevaporation - Cyclic Deposition and Reaction (RCE-CDR)


 

12 (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 12 HTS deposition is the largest component of the total cost Need a high-yield, high-quality, high-throughout, low materials and low labor cost HTS process Current market price for 2G HTS Wire - 200 Amp wire $50/m or $250/kA-m in volume for large DOE projects in 2011/2012 (DOE HTS Roadmap Meeting 1/2010) Source: Los Alamos Notional Laboratory (LANL) Current 2G HTS Wire Cost Curve Limits Commercialization Source: SuperPower, CCA, 2008 Source: American Superconductor, DOE HTS Peer Review, 2008


 

13 (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 13 Focus on improving margins Metal-Organic Deposition (MOD), Metal-Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) and Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) implemented and studied before being abandoned in 2003 RCE/CDR improved yield to 95% 80% cost reduction achieved with process improvements MgO: MOD and MOCVD R&D MgO: PLD MgO: RCE-CDR Sapphire: RCE-CDR 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 1999 1998 Mid 90's 140% 120% 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% Wafer Cost 80% Cost Reduction 3X Cost Estimate STI HTS Wafer Cost Reduction Over Time


 

Entrance Superconductor Technologies Corporate Headquarters Santa Barbara, CA 70,000 sq ft Prototype Systems - Phase I - 2010/11 Class 10,000 clean room - 2,000 sq ft Gen 0 - 2G HTS Wire, IBAD, SDP equipment New characterization equipment Wire Volume Production - Phase II - 2011/12 Class 10,000 clean room - 5,000 sq ft Gen 1 production units - 2G HTS Wire, IBAD, SDP, slitting and lamination equipment Projected capacity: 1,500 Km of 4mm wire per year Facilities support $25M investment in manufacturing facilities since 2000 Class 100-10,000 clean rooms, industrial power distribution, de-ionized water/air filtration, liquid & gas nitrogen delivery system 14 14 (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. Phased 2G HTS Wire Factory Expansion Plan


 

(c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 15 Q1 - 2010 Revenue 2009 Revenue Dollars in millions STI Financial Highlights


 

(c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. 16 16 16 16 16 Jeff Quiram Bob Hammond Terry White Bob Johnson Adam Shelton Tom Giunta Bill Buchanan President & CEO SVP, CTO VP Worldwide Sales SVP, Operations VP, Product Management & Marketing VP, Engineering CFO Management Team


 

Leverage extensive IP and manufacturing expertise to develop 2G HTS wire for large emerging markets Wind Turbines, Industrial Motors and Generators, FCL, High Power Transmission Cables TAM estimated for 2G HTS wire exceeds $1B by 2016 Engaged with industry leading customers for each application STI's roadmap milestones pegged to customer requirements Leverage Commercial Success with HTS Recognized leading expertise in RCE-CDR technology provides a strong competitive advantage RCE-CDR offers a leading scalable and cost effective solution to meet the stringent needs of these emerging markets 17 (c)2010 Superconductor Technologies Inc. All Rights Reserved. Summary