Dive brief:
- Corning announced Monday that it has signed a $6 billion multi-year deal with software developer Meta Platforms to expand manufacturing capabilities at its North Carolina facility.
- Corning’s optical cable factory in Hickory will benefit from a “significant capacity expansion,” where Meta will serve as an anchor customer, according to the Jan. 27 press release. Also, the deal will increase Corning’s job growth to 20% and maintain a workforce of more than 5,000 workers in the state.
- The manufacturer will supply Meta with the latest fiber optic, cable and connectivity products. It will also help accelerate the creation of Meta’s data centers in the United States, which will support its AI applications, technologies and goals.
Diving knowledge:
Corning’s Optical Communications segment operates two fiber manufacturing plants in Wilmington and Concord, North Carolina, John Arwood, sCorning’s senior manager, executive and external communications, said in an email Thursday. Corning also has five cable plants located in Newton, Winston-Salem and Hickory, the latter of which has multiple facilities.
In October 2025, Corning announced plans to invest $170 million to $267.9 million to expand its manufacturing operations in Hickory. The company acquired a lot at the Trivium Corporate Center in Hickory, and the investment would hire and retain a minimum of 132 jobs.
Arwood said the previously announced Hickory initiative is part of Meta’s announcement. He declined to give further details of the extension.
The Meta deal reflects Corning’s commitment to developing, building and manufacturing critical technologies to power new data centers in the US, said Wendell Weeks, chairman, president and CEO. an earnings call on Wednesday.
“Together with Meta, we are strengthening domestic supply chains and helping to ensure that advanced data centers are built using US innovation and advanced US manufacturing,” Weeks said.
The manufacturer saw its fourth-quarter net sales rise 20% year over year to $4.2 billion. according to a securities presentation. Net sales for the full year 2025 rose 19% to $15.6 billion.
On a sector-wide basis, fourth-quarter sales for Corning’s optical communications business were $1.7 billion, up 24% year-over-year. Full-year sales totaled $6.3 billion, up 35% from 2024. Edward Schlesinger, executive vice president and chief financial officer, said on the earnings call that most of the growth was driven by “extraordinary” adoption of Corning’s new Gen AI products.
“For the full year, our enterprise business, where we capture sales for inside the data center, grew 61% year over year, and the hyperscale data center portion of our business grew significantly faster,” Schlesinger added. “We also saw year-over-year sales growth in our carrier networking business, which was up 15% for the full year. This growth was primarily driven by sales to interconnect data centers.”
Meta is just one of the major customers Corning has struck deals with in recent months, particularly to expand its manufacturing footprint in the United States. In August 2025, Apple announced that it was committing $2.5 billion through its new American manufacturing program to fund the production of all iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass in Corning’s Harrodsburg, Kentucky, manufacturing facility.
In addition, Corning will shift the focus from the facility entirely to manufacturing for Apple. The two companies also plan to establish an Apple-Corning Innovation Center at the Harrodsburg plant, which will prioritize the development and engineering of advanced materials and new manufacturing platforms for future Apple products.
“Together, these agreements enable Corning to provide our customers with secure, American-sourced production of our most advanced Gen AI high-density innovations,” said Weeks.
The Meta and Apple deals support Corning’s “Springboard” growth strategy, which Weeks said the company launched in January 2024. The company initially set an annualized sales target of $6 billion by the end of 2026. Now, executives have updated the plan to $6.5 billion by the end of the year. The company also raised its original target of $8 billion in annual incremental sales to $11 billion by 2028.
“The growth we’re seeing in optical communications is an important component of the Springboard upgrade we’re delivering today,” said Schlesinger. “We expect this segment to continue to drive significant growth. Our recent Meta announcement is a great proof point.”
The multi-year association is strengthened Meta’s $600 billion investment to build AI data centers across the country. To date, 26 data centers are under construction or operational in the US. Meta said in its press release.
“As digital tools and generative artificial intelligence continue to transform our economy, in fields like healthcare, finance, agriculture and more, the demand for fiber connectivity will continue to grow,” the Facebook app developer said in a statement.
While Corning was not mentioned during Meta’s earnings call on WednesdaySusan Li, chief financial officer, said the company continues to prioritize “long-term flexibility” to adapt to the evolving market.
“We’re doing this in a number of ways, including changing the way we develop data center sites, establishing strategic partnerships, hiring cloud capacity and establishing new ownership structures for some of our large data centers,” Li said.
