- Contributes Patents to Establish Minority Ownership in Resonant LLC -
- Introduces Terry Lingren as CEO and Names Bob Hammond CTO of Resonant LLC -
AUSTIN, Texas, July 12, 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, contributed 14 patents regarding STI's innovative Reconfigurable Resonance™ (RcR) technology, experienced executive leadership and technical expertise as its minority investment in Resonant LLC. Resonant intends to commercialize RcR for the rapidly growing mobile communications products industry.
As announced in February 2012, Resonant (then called Resonant Inc.) signed a product development agreement with a global leader in mobile communications products to bring to market RcR technology by extending its world-leading expertise in radio frequency analog passive circuit design and active analog circuitry. As a new company separate from STI, Resonant is currently self-funded for its preliminary development efforts and expects to pursue additional financing needed to complete its development plan. STI co-founded Resonant together with the new management team, who are the other owners of the venture.
Jeff Quiram, STI's president and chief executive officer, said, "As we have discussed in the past, STI has a deep intellectual property portfolio developed over many years. These assets enable us to incubate promising technologies we believe can provide substantial returns for our shareholders with little or no demand on our capital and 2G HTS wire technical resources. Our IP investment in Resonant is a perfect example of STI expanding its market opportunities. While STI continues to aggressively pursue its 2G HTS wire program, Resonant allows us to participate in the mobile communications devices market by leveraging the RcR technology we developed through a modest investment, and with no obligation for future funding of the venture."
Resonant announced two key leadership positions. Terry Lingren, co-founder, with over 30 years of industry experience working as a vice president of engineering for Qualcomm and Kyocera, will be CEO. STI's chief technology officer, Bob Hammond, also a co-founder of Resonant, will become its CTO. Dr. Hammond will continue to be available to STI in a consulting role for the near future.
"I am extremely excited about Resonant and its future," stated Mr. Lingren. "Mobile data demand from next generation smartphones is exploding, and device manufacturers are struggling to keep up. The RcR patented solutions and highly specialized technical team can address these issues, as validated by our development contract with a global market leader in the rapidly growing mobile communications industry. Resonant will commence development activity immediately to meet the demand of its primary target customer while at the same time seeking the outside financing necessary to bring its product to market."
"Bob has served STI with distinction for many years, and we thank him for his contributions. We are very fortunate to now be able to benefit from his world-class leadership and skill in a new and different capacity at Resonant," stated Mr. Quiram.
About Superconductor Technologies Inc. (STI)
Superconductor Technologies Inc., 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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About Resonant LLC
Resonant LLC, headquartered in Santa Barbara, CA, concentrates on mobile device radio front ends. Using novel, patented design techniques that utilize existing fabrication facilities, Resonant is changing how cellular devices are engineered.
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. In addition, factors and uncertainties related to Resonant include, but are not limited to, the need to obtain financing in a challenging financing environment; additional technical milestones that need to be achieved; converting a successful development plan into a viable commercial agreement; the rapidly changing and intensely competitive nature of the mobile handset marketplace; and the many risks and uncertainties generally associated with early stage technology start-ups.
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, 2011 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
STI Investor Relations, invest@suptech.com, Cathy Mattison or Kirsten Chapman of LHA, +1-415-433-3777, for Superconductor Technologies Inc.
Resonant LLC, Terry Lingren, CEO, 460 Ward Drive, Suite D, Santa Barbara, CA 93117
TLingren@ResonantWireless.com +1-805-690-4555