Applied Materials enters (PV) market with acquisition in July (CA)

[jpak]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/18/BUGU0KDCCV350.DTL

Is the sun finally ready to shine on the solar industry?

That question is getting asked more often in clean energy circles these days, in part because Applied Materials Inc. -- the Santa Clara company best known for selling the tools that make computer chips -- recently tiptoed into solar energy manufacturing.

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As the pre-eminent developer of chip manufacturing systems, Applied Materials certainly shares the credit for driving down chip prices. So when it recently acquired a solar manufacturing process developed in Germany, astute observers took note.

"This provides credibility for the (solar) industry," San Francisco investment banker Neal Dikeman wrote in the Cleantech blog.

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[RedEarth]

1. K&R

[Duppers]

2. good news!

thanks.