Debt	6 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Debt [Abstract]
Debt	11. Debt Senior Convertible Notes On April 4, 2012, the Company entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement and completed a private placement of $25.0 million of 7% senior convertible notes with Capital Ventures International (“CVI”), an affiliate of Heights Capital Management. After fees and expenses, the net proceeds were $23.2 million. The Convertible Notes have an initial conversion price of $4.85 per share, representing a premium of approximately 20% over AMSC’s closing price on April 3, 2012. The Convertible Notes are payable in monthly installments beginning four months from issuance and ending on October 4, 2014. Monthly payments are payable in cash or common stock at the option of the Company, subject to certain trading volume, stock price and other conditions. CVI can also elect to defer receipt of monthly installment payments at its option. Any deferred installment payments will continue to accrue interest. CVI elected to defer the installment payment due September 4, 2012 of $1.1 million. The Company registered 10,262,311 shares of common stock which may be used as payment for principal and interest in lieu of cash for resale under the Securities Act as required under a Registration Rights Agreement with CVI. The Company has accounted for the Convertible Notes as an instrument that has the characteristics of a debt host contract containing several embedded derivative features that would require bifurcation and separate accounting as a derivative instrument pursuant to the provisions of ASC 815. The Company elected not to use the fair value option for the payable of $25.0 million and will record the liability at the stated value under the loan agreement on the date of issuance with no changes in fair value reported in subsequent periods. The Company has identified the following derivatives associated with the Convertible Notes: holder change of control redemption rights; issuer optional redemption rights; sale redemption rights and a feature to convert the Convertible Note into equity at the holder’s option. The Company valued these derivatives at $3.8 million upon issuance and recorded the value as a debt discount and a derivative liability. See Note 12, “Warrants and Derivative Liabilities”, for additional information regarding derivative liabilities. In addition, CVI received a warrant to purchase approximately 3.1 million additional shares of common stock exercisable at a strike price of $5.45 per share, subject to adjustment, until October 4, 2017. Due to certain adjustment provisions within the warrant, it qualified for liability accounting and had a fair value of $7.0 million upon issuance. The Company recorded the value as a debt discount and a warrant liability. See Note 12, “Warrants and Derivative Liabilities”, for additional information regarding the warrant. The process of valuing financial and derivative instruments utilizes facts and circumstances as of the measurement date as well as certain inputs, assumptions, and judgments that may affect the estimated fair value of the instruments. Upon issuance of the Convertible Notes, the Company determined the initial carrying value of the Convertible Notes to be $25.0 million. In addition, the Company also incurred $1.8 million of legal and origination costs as of the six months ended September 30, 2012, which have been recorded as a discount on the Convertible Notes. The total debt discount, including the embedded derivatives, warrant and legal and origination costs of $12.6 million is being amortized into interest expense over the term of the Convertible Notes using the effective interest method. Under this method, interest expense is recognized each period until the debt instruments reach maturity. If the maturity of the Convertible Notes is accelerated because of prepayment, then the amortization will be accelerated. During the three and six months ended September 30, 2012, the Company recorded non-cash interest expense for amortization of the debt discount related to the Convertible Notes of $2.1 million and $4.2 million, respectively. The Convertible Notes contain certain covenants and restrictions, including, among others, that for so long as the Convertible Notes are outstanding, the Company will not incur any indebtedness (other than permitted indebtedness under the Convertible Notes), permit liens on its properties (other than permitted liens under the Convertible Notes), make payments on junior securities or declare dividends. The Convertible Notes also contain limitations on the transfer of certain assets. Events of default under the Convertible Notes include failure to pay principal or interest as due on the Convertible Notes, failure to deliver registered shares of common stock upon the holders request for conversion of part or all of the Convertible Notes, failure to maintain the Company's common stock eligible for trading on defined markets, cross defaults to other material indebtedness, receipt of uninsured judgments against the Company in excess of defined limits and other administrative covenants, as defined in the Convertible Notes and related documentation. Upon an event of default, the holders may require the Company to redeem all or any portion of the outstanding principal amount of the Convertible Notes in cash plus a penalty as specified in the agreement. Also, if the Company fails to maintain an effective registration statement covering common stock to be used in settling obligations under the Convertible Notes, the Company will be required to pay a penalty as specified in the agreement. In addition, under the Convertible Notes agreements, on October 4, 2012, the Company had the right to issue an additional $15 million aggregate principal amount of convertible notes and warrant to the same investor, subject to certain conditions. Because the Company did not meet these conditions, it no longer has the right to compel the investor to purchase additional Convertible Notes on the terms contained in the agreement. Senior Secured Term Loan On June 5, 2012, the Company entered into a Term Loan with Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (“Hercules”), under which the Company borrowed $10.0 million (the “Term Loan”). After the closing fees and expenses, the net proceeds to the Company were $9.7 million. The Term Loan bears an interest rate equal to 11% plus the percentage, if any, by which the prime rate as reported by The Wall Street Journal exceeds 3.75%. The Company made interest-only payments from July 1, 2012 through October 31, 2012, after which the Company will repay the loan in equal monthly installments ending on December 1, 2014. The Term Loan is secured by substantially all of the Company’s existing and future assets, including a mortgage on real property owned by the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, ASC Devens LLC, and located at 64 Jackson Road, Devens, Massachusetts. In addition, Hercules received a warrant to purchase 139,276 shares of common stock, exercisable at an initial strike price of $3.59 per share, subject to adjustment, until December 5, 2017. Due to certain adjustment provisions within the warrant, it qualified for liability accounting and the fair value of $0.4 million was recorded upon issuance, which the Company recorded as a debt discount and a warrant liability. See Note 12, “Warrants and Derivative Liabilities”, for a discussion on warrants and the valuation assumptions used. The Company will pay an end of term fee of $0.5 million upon the earlier of maturity or prepayment of the loan. The Company has accrued this as of the six months ended September 30, 2012 and recorded a corresponding amount into the debt discount. In addition, the Company incurred $0.3 million of legal and origination costs in the six months ended September 30, 2012, which have been recorded as a debt discount. The total debt discount including the warrant, end of term fee and legal and origination costs of $1.2 million is being amortized into interest expense over the term of the Term Loan using the effective interest method. Under this method, interest expense is recognized each period until the debt instrument reaches maturity. If the maturity of the Term Loan is accelerated because of prepayment, then the amortization will be accelerated. During the three and six months ended September 30, 2012, the Company recorded non-cash interest expense for amortization of the debt discount related to the Term Loan of $0.2 million and $0.3 million, respectively. The Term Loan contains certain covenants that restrict the Company’s ability to, among other things, incur or assume certain debt, merge or consolidate, materially change the nature of our business, make certain investments, acquire or dispose of certain assets, make guaranties or grant liens on its assets, make certain loans, advances or investments, declare dividends or make distributions or enter into transactions with affiliates. In addition, the Term Loan contains a covenant that requires the Company to maintain a minimum unrestricted cash balance in the United States of at least $10.0 million at the inception of the Term Loan, which will decrease starting November 1, 2012 and monthly thereafter by the amount of principal paid. The events of default under the Term Loan include, but are not limited to, failure to pay amounts due, breaches of covenants, bankruptcy events, cross defaults under other material indebtedness and the occurrence of a material adverse effect and/or change in control. In the case of a continuing event of default, the Lender may, among other remedies, declare due all unpaid principal amounts outstanding and any accrued but unpaid interest and foreclose on all collateral granted to the Lender as security under the Term Loan. Although the Company is in compliance with the covenants and restrictions under the Convertible Notes and Term Loan as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, there can be no assurance that the Company will continue to be in compliance. Interest expense on the Convertible Notes and Term Loan for the three and six months ended September 30, 2012 was $3.0 million and $5.7 million respectively, which included $2.3 million and $4.4 million of non-cash interest expense related to the amortization of the debt discount on the Convertible Notes and Term Loan, respectively.

11. Debt

Senior Convertible Notes

On April 4, 2012, the Company entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement and completed a private placement of $25.0 million of 7% senior convertible notes with Capital Ventures International (“CVI”), an affiliate of Heights Capital Management. After fees and expenses, the net proceeds were $23.2 million. The Convertible Notes have an initial conversion price of $4.85 per share, representing a premium of approximately 20% over AMSC’s closing price on April 3, 2012. The Convertible Notes are payable in monthly installments beginning four months from issuance and ending on October 4, 2014. Monthly payments are payable in cash or common stock at the option of the Company, subject to certain trading volume, stock price and other conditions. CVI can also elect to defer receipt of monthly installment payments at its option. Any deferred installment payments will continue to accrue interest. CVI elected to defer the installment payment due September 4, 2012 of $1.1 million. The Company registered 10,262,311 shares of common stock which may be used as payment for principal and interest in lieu of cash for resale under the Securities Act as required under a Registration Rights Agreement with CVI.

The Company has accounted for the Convertible Notes as an instrument that has the characteristics of a debt host contract containing several embedded derivative features that would require bifurcation and separate accounting as a derivative instrument pursuant to the provisions of ASC 815. The Company elected not to use the fair value option for the payable of $25.0 million and will record the liability at the stated value under the loan agreement on the date of issuance with no changes in fair value reported in subsequent periods.

The Company has identified the following derivatives associated with the Convertible Notes: holder change of control redemption rights; issuer optional redemption rights; sale redemption rights and a feature to convert the Convertible Note into equity at the holder’s option. The Company valued these derivatives at $3.8 million upon issuance and recorded the value as a debt discount and a derivative liability. See Note 12, “Warrants and Derivative Liabilities”, for additional information regarding derivative liabilities.

In addition, CVI received a warrant to purchase approximately 3.1 million additional shares of common stock exercisable at a strike price of $5.45 per share, subject to adjustment, until October 4, 2017. Due to certain adjustment provisions within the warrant, it qualified for liability accounting and had a fair value of $7.0 million upon issuance. The Company recorded the value as a debt discount and a warrant liability. See Note 12, “Warrants and Derivative Liabilities”, for additional information regarding the warrant.

The process of valuing financial and derivative instruments utilizes facts and circumstances as of the measurement date as well as certain inputs, assumptions, and judgments that may affect the estimated fair value of the instruments. Upon issuance of the Convertible Notes, the Company determined the initial carrying value of the Convertible Notes to be $25.0 million. In addition, the Company also incurred $1.8 million of legal and origination costs as of the six months ended September 30, 2012, which have been recorded as a discount on the Convertible Notes. The total debt discount, including the embedded derivatives, warrant and legal and origination costs of $12.6 million is being amortized into interest expense over the term of the Convertible Notes using the effective interest method. Under this method, interest expense is recognized each period until the debt instruments reach maturity. If the maturity of the Convertible Notes is accelerated because of prepayment, then the amortization will be accelerated. During the three and six months ended September 30, 2012, the Company recorded non-cash interest expense for amortization of the debt discount related to the Convertible Notes of $2.1 million and $4.2 million, respectively.

The Convertible Notes contain certain covenants and restrictions, including, among others, that for so long as the Convertible Notes are outstanding, the Company will not incur any indebtedness (other than permitted indebtedness under the Convertible Notes), permit liens on its properties (other than permitted liens under the Convertible Notes), make payments on junior securities or declare dividends. The Convertible Notes also contain limitations on the transfer of certain assets. Events of default under the Convertible Notes include failure to pay principal or interest as due on the Convertible Notes, failure to deliver registered shares of common stock upon the holders request for conversion of part or all of the Convertible Notes, failure to maintain the Company's common stock eligible for trading on defined markets, cross defaults to other material indebtedness, receipt of uninsured judgments against the Company in excess of defined limits and other administrative covenants, as defined in the Convertible Notes and related documentation. Upon an event of default, the holders may require the Company to redeem all or any portion of the outstanding principal amount of the Convertible Notes in cash plus a penalty as specified in the agreement. Also, if the Company fails to maintain an effective registration statement covering common stock to be used in settling obligations under the Convertible Notes, the Company will be required to pay a penalty as specified in the agreement.

In addition, under the Convertible Notes agreements, on October 4, 2012, the Company had the right to issue an additional $15 million aggregate principal amount of convertible notes and warrant to the same investor, subject to certain conditions. Because the Company did not meet these conditions, it no longer has the right to compel the investor to purchase additional Convertible Notes on the terms contained in the agreement.

Senior Secured Term Loan

On June 5, 2012, the Company entered into a Term Loan with Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (“Hercules”), under which the Company borrowed $10.0 million (the “Term Loan”). After the closing fees and expenses, the net proceeds to the Company were $9.7 million. The Term Loan bears an interest rate equal to 11% plus the percentage, if any, by which the prime rate as reported by The Wall Street Journal exceeds 3.75%. The Company made interest-only payments from July 1, 2012 through October 31, 2012, after which the Company will repay the loan in equal monthly installments ending on December 1, 2014. The Term Loan is secured by substantially all of the Company’s existing and future assets, including a mortgage on real property owned by the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, ASC Devens LLC, and located at 64 Jackson Road, Devens, Massachusetts. In addition, Hercules received a warrant to purchase 139,276 shares of common stock, exercisable at an initial strike price of $3.59 per share, subject to adjustment, until December 5, 2017. Due to certain adjustment provisions within the warrant, it qualified for liability accounting and the fair value of $0.4 million was recorded upon issuance, which the Company recorded as a debt discount and a warrant liability. See Note 12, “Warrants and Derivative Liabilities”, for a discussion on warrants and the valuation assumptions used. The Company will pay an end of term fee of $0.5 million upon the earlier of maturity or prepayment of the loan. The Company has accrued this as of the six months ended September 30, 2012 and recorded a corresponding amount into the debt discount. In addition, the Company incurred $0.3 million of legal and origination costs in the six months ended September 30, 2012, which have been recorded as a debt discount. The total debt discount including the warrant, end of term fee and legal and origination costs of $1.2 million is being amortized into interest expense over the term of the Term Loan using the effective interest method. Under this method, interest expense is recognized each period until the debt instrument reaches maturity. If the maturity of the Term Loan is accelerated because of prepayment, then the amortization will be accelerated. During the three and six months ended September 30, 2012, the Company recorded non-cash interest expense for amortization of the debt discount related to the Term Loan of $0.2 million and $0.3 million, respectively.

The Term Loan contains certain covenants that restrict the Company’s ability to, among other things, incur or assume certain debt, merge or consolidate, materially change the nature of our business, make certain investments, acquire or dispose of certain assets, make guaranties or grant liens on its assets, make certain loans, advances or investments, declare dividends or make distributions or enter into transactions with affiliates. In addition, the Term Loan contains a covenant that requires the Company to maintain a minimum unrestricted cash balance in the United States of at least $10.0 million at the inception of the Term Loan, which will decrease starting November 1, 2012 and monthly thereafter by the amount of principal paid. The events of default under the Term Loan include, but are not limited to, failure to pay amounts due, breaches of covenants, bankruptcy events, cross defaults under other material indebtedness and the occurrence of a material adverse effect and/or change in control. In the case of a continuing event of default, the Lender may, among other remedies, declare due all unpaid principal amounts outstanding and any accrued but unpaid interest and foreclose on all collateral granted to the Lender as security under the Term Loan.

Although the Company is in compliance with the covenants and restrictions under the Convertible Notes and Term Loan as of the date of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, there can be no assurance that the Company will continue to be in compliance.

Interest expense on the Convertible Notes and Term Loan for the three and six months ended September 30, 2012 was $3.0 million and $5.7 million respectively, which included $2.3 million and $4.4 million of non-cash interest expense related to the amortization of the debt discount on the Convertible Notes and Term Loan, respectively.