Intel made a big leap into the burgeoning clean-tech sector on Monday by creating SpectraWatt, a spinoff company that will manufacture solar cells.

The company’s first plant in Oregon will produce 60 megawatts worth of cells.

The Intel-SpectraWatt deal highlights the deepening cross-over between IT companies and the clean-technology sector.

IBM on Monday announced plans to enter the CIGS solar cell arena by forming a partnership with a Japanese semiconductor equipment maker. Hewlett-Packard earlier this month licensed transparent electronics to a solar concentrator start-up, Xtreme Energetics.

Like IBM and HP, Intel has expertise in semiconductor materials and capital-intensive, high-volume manufacturing. Those same skills are required in the solar photovoltaics business, which is growing rapidly–on the order of 40 percent to 50 percent–from soaring demand.