Applied Materials Inc.

Forbes Magazine identifies Applied Materials as a solar technology leader and one of the companies helping make solar viable by lowering the cost per watt and making solar power a significant alternative source of global energy.

Michael Splinter was raised on the most powerful incantation in the tech industry, Moore's Law, which roughly holds that computing power per dollar doubles every two years. During his 20 years at Intel (nasdaq: INTC - news - people ) Splinter saw this law deliver exponentially better products and profits.

Now, as chief executive of Applied Materials (nasdaq: AMAT - news - people ), the biggest pick-and-shovel maker for the semiconductor and flat-panel display industries, Splinter, 56, wants to forge a sunny-side-up version of Moore's Law. "Can we, with our customers, drive down the cost per watt of photovoltaics?" Splinter asks. "We've got to."

Currently photovoltaics cost $2 to $3 per watt to build, down from $22 in 1980. Splinter thinks he can help drive the cost of solar to under $1 a watt. At that price, even after adding a dollar or two per watt of installation costs, solar power would rival grid-delivered fossil fuel power.

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