Here Comes the Sun

What's been happening at Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW  ) lately? All kinds of things. Here's the roundup:

• For starters, Chief Scientist Bill Joy announced his departure from the company to pursue other interests. This is at the very least a major psychic blow to the firm, as Joy has been there pretty much since the beginning, serving in very key roles.
  
  
• Last week, Sun announced it will cut some 1,000 jobs worldwide, which amounts to less than 3% of its employees. The cuts follow downsizings in 2001 and 2002 which were each about four times bigger. According to management, the layoffs are meant to help Sun improve profitability and increase shareholder value.
  
  
• On a much more upbeat note, news is emerging that Sun has developed a revolutionary way to speed up semiconductor chips -- to as much as 60 to 100 times current speeds. (Yowza!) According to a Reuters report, "By placing the chips edge to edge, directly touching, so data can flow freely, Sun has taken out the need for the tiny wires, pads and solder points that now connect chips on printed circuit boards that help make up computer systems."

If you've been thinking about investing in this industry, don't forget Sun Microsystems when you review the likes of IBM (NYSE: IBM  ) , Dell (Nasdaq: DELL  ) , and Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ  ) . Tom Jacobs recently looked at Sun and though he was intrigued by what he saw in the company, he didn't think the stock was a particular bargain. So buyers beware -- perhaps just add Sun to your watch list. And drop in on our Sun discussion board (a painless free trial is available) to see what other Fools are saying about it.

Meanwhile, if you're craving good stock ideas, check out our suite of investment idea newsletters, each of which delivers several promising stock ideas each month.