One more positive? Jim Cramer can now tout Intel (INTC) as the great next solar company like he does with Applied Material (AMAT) and First Solar (FSLR) ;) (he actually calls First Solar the Intel of Solar - so what will he now call Intel?)

• Intel(INTC) is joining the growing ranks of chipmakers with solar energy aspirations, announcing the spinoff of its key photovoltaic assets into a new standalone company Monday.
• Intel's investment arm, Intel Capital, will lead a $50 million funding round in the new company, to be called SpectraWatt. Goldman Sachs subsidiary Cogentrix Energy will also pitch in on the deal, along with a couple of other investors.
• The company is expected to begin shipping products by mid-2009, with construction of a new manufacturing facility in Oregon slated for later this year.
• Earlier Monday, IBM(IBM) announced a partnership with Japan's Tokyo Ohka Kogyo, a semiconductor manufacturing equipment firm, to develop low-cost methods for producing solar energy products.
• Applied Materials(AMAT), the world's No.1 maker of semiconductor manufacturing tools, is pouring resources into a new business group dedicated to building and maintaining solar panel factories.
• Intel said that SpectraWatt will manufacture and supply photovoltaic cells to "solar module makers," while focusing on manufacturing improvements that lower the cost of solar energy generation.

Pathetic stat of the day - the market capitalization of First Solar is higher than all the Chinese publicly traded solar companies put together. Now that's Cramer power for you. We'll see how that looks a year from now when polysilicon prices begin to really drop (which have been holding down gross margins), and these companies which have been stifled by the high prices can go head to head on product pricing. It will be interesting indeed - somehow I see that halo around First Solar being knocked off a bit, if not in 1 year, certainly within two.

Long none mentioned; I only own solar stocks that pull surprises at their earnings call every 90 days.