Applied gets into solar power business

Ex-Intel man Mike Splinter, president and CEO of Applied, said that there's now sufficient demand for the panels to make it worthwhile to enter the business.

It produced figures which claimed that the equipment market for solar panels will grow from $1 billion in 2006 to over $3 billion in 2010.

It believes that it can help create the infrastructure for solar panel manufacturers to gigawatt level faciltiies.

It showed off several technologies and services at a conference in Germany last week which will support its move into the solar business.