Superconductor Pioneer Dr. Gregory J. Yurek Joins Nanosys Board of Directors

Palo Alto, CA - (February 18, 2004). Nanosys, Inc., a leader in nanotechnology-enabled systems, added technology pioneer Dr. Gregory J. Yurek to the company’s board of directors. Dr. Yurek is chairman and chief executive officer of American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), the world’s leading supplier of dynamic reactive power grid stabilization products and the world’s principal vendor of high temperature superconductor wire and large rotating superconductor machinery.

Dr. Yurek co-founded AMSC in April 1987 with three fellow MIT professors to commercialize a new family of high temperature superconductor (HTS) materials for electric power applications. Prior to co-founding American Superconductor, Dr. Yurek was professor of materials science and engineering at MIT. His work on the development of corrosion-resistant alloys at MIT led to the invention of technologies now used in commercial HTS wires.

“Dr. Yurek has successfully steered American Superconductor from a series of scientific breakthroughs to a successful corporation by identifying and developing key technologies responsible for making superconductivity a commercial reality,” said Calvin Chow, cofounder and CEO of Nanosys. “His experience with emerging technologies and their transfer to the marketplace will be tremendously valuable to Nanosys as we develop our nanotechnology-based innovations into products.”

“Nanosys is the clear leader in inorganic based nanotechnology systems,” said Yurek. “They have an excellent team, a wide array of proprietary nanotechnologies, and a sound strategy for bringing products into the marketplace. This company has the ‘right stuff’ for achieving business success in the nanotechnology space. I’m very excited to be a member of the board of directors and to assist Nanosys as it continues to build a world-class company.”

About Nanosys

Nanosys, Inc. is a rapidly growing advanced technology company, and a world leader in the development of inorganic semiconductor systems powered by nanotechnology – the use of nanometer-sized materials to develop new technologies and revolutionary new applications. Nanosys has built one of the broadest technology platforms in the industry with more than 100 patents and patent applications covering the fundamental elements of nanotechnology. Based in Palo Alto, California, Nanosys partners with industrial leaders including Intel, Matsushita Electric Works and SAIC to co-develop revolutionary high-value, high-performance applications for information technology, communications, renewable energy, defense and the life and physical sciences.