Corning plans to add 3,000 jobs, boost production in deal with NVIDIA

Corning Inc. and NVIDIA on Wednesday announced a multiyear partnership to dramatically expand U.S.-based manufacturing of the advanced optical connectivity solutions needed to power next-generation AI infrastructure.

Corning will increase its U.S.-based optical connectivity manufacturing capacity by 10x and expand its U.S. fiber production capacity by more than 50 percent to meet the accelerating demand driven by AI factory buildouts, the company said.

The expansion includes the construction of three new advanced manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas, and the creation of more than 3,000 new “high-paying” American jobs.

“What NVIDIA is doing is nothing short of extraordinary, not just for the future of artificial intelligence, but for the American advanced manufacturing workforce,” Wendell Weeks, chairman, CEO and president of Corning Inc. said in the May 6 announcement. “Their commitment is directly fueling the expansion of our U.S. manufacturing footprint and creating more than 3,000 new high-paying jobs for American workers.

“This partnership is proof that AI is not just a technology story. It is a manufacturing story, and it is happening here in the United States,” Weeks added. “Together with NVIDIA, we are ensuring the critical technologies powering AI are invented, engineered, and built in America.”

Corning’s expanded capacity will supply the optical connectivity hyperscale data centers use to deploy NVIDIA-accelerated computing at scale. Modern AI workloads require thousands of NVIDIA GPUs, requiring unprecedented volumes of high-performance optical fiber, connectivity, and photonics to move data at extraordinary speed and scale, the companies stated.

Corning officials said as AI factories grow larger and more numerous, optical connectivity becomes an important component of the AI infrastructure. As the inventor of low-loss optical fiber and the world’s leading innovator in glass science and optical physics, Corning said it is well-positioned to meet this demand at scale.

“AI is driving the largest infrastructure buildout of our time – and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate American manufacturing and supply chains,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “Together with Corning, we are inventing the future of computing with advanced optical technologies – building the foundation for AI infrastructure where intelligence moves at the speed of light while advancing the proud tradition of Made in America.”

Robust demand for Gen AI products and the ramp of new solar products drove Q1 growth, Corning highlighted in its recent earnings report. First-quarter results beat estimates as core sales jumped 18% year-over-year to about $4.35 billion.

This article originally appeared on The Leader: Corning plans to add 3,000 jobs, boost production in deal with NVIDIA

Reporting by Jeff Smith, Corning Leader / The Leader

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