HP, IBM, Intel: Scouting Strange Sectors

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Intel(INTC) chips in cars, IBM(IBM) technology powering makeup counters, and HP(HPQ) building cattle tracking systems. Silicon Valley is seeking new revenue in some strange places.

For companies of these behemoth sizes, finding unprecedented uses for technology is par for the course. IBM, for example, spent about 6.3% of its revenue -- $1.5 billion -- on R&D during its recent second quarter, an increase of 3% on the same period last year. As Steve Mills, IBM's software chief, recently told TheStreet, the company's sheer size lets it solve problems that other firms cannot.

There is also the possibility that new solutions will evolve from niche markets, just as joysticks came out of NASA's space research.

"When you're so large and so vast, you have to go out and do a lot of research about where you can add a lot of value with your R&D and work out what problems can be solved," explained Brian Babineau, senior consulting analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group.

Read on to find out how the three heavyweights are working in some of the less-known corners of the tech sector.