Corning Signs $6 Billion Deal to Supply Meta with Fiber-Optic Cable

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Written by Eric Funderburk for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land Texas)

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Summary

As Meta Platforms builds out its network of data centers in the U.S., including two massive AI facilities in Ohio and Louisiana, the company has struck a deal with Corning, which will supply Meta with fiber optic cable.

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A New Contract

Corning Incorporated (Corning, New York), founded in 1851 and which supplied the glass for Thomas Edison's lightbulbs, is a company that has moved with the times and has lately landed significant contracts with some of the biggest players in Big Tech for its glass products. This week, the company announced that Meta Platforms (Menlo Park, California) would pay up to $6 billion through 2030 for Corning to supply Meta's data centers with fiber-optic cabling, a lucrative contract that will lead to the expansion of a Corning plant.

A Technology Primer

There are two basic ways to deliver data across networks: copper cabling and fiber optics. Fiber optic cabling is far superior than copper wiring for transmitting information over large distances, allows for superior bandwidth, and is much less prone to signal loss and interference than copper cabling. These traits have made fiber-optic cabling a key component of today's artificial intelligence (AI)-capable data centers, which Big Tech companies including Google (Mountain View, California), Meta, Amazon (Seattle, Washington) and Microsoft (Redmond, Washington) are constructing in the U.S. and various global locations.

In an exclusive CNBC interview, Mike O'Day, Corning's head of fiber optics, noted that a Meta AI data center being constructed in Louisiana alone would require 8 million miles of fiber-optic cabling. And the market is only set to grow.

The graphic processing units (GPUs) used in AI data centers and manufactured by the likes of NVIDIA (Santa Clara, California) currently use copper wiring for connections within a server, but as the number of these chips used per unit begins climbing, Corning Chief Executive Wendell Weeks said that a change from copper to fiber-optic cabling is "inevitable," meaning even more of the ultra-pure silica cabling, which transmits data through pulses of light, will be needed.

Meta's AI Construction

And Meta needs those millions of miles of cabling. In addition to other, smaller data center projects, the company is constructing two massive AI data centers in Ohio and Louisiana. Meta's construction of the Prometheus data center in New Albany, Ohio, and the even larger Hyperion complex in Richland Parish, Louisiana, represent tens of billions of dollars' worth of investment, project activity for years to come, and the need for lots of fiber-optic cabling.

Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Project Database can learn more by viewing the reports on the Ohio and Louisiana projects.

Contract Cements North Carolina Plant Expansion

A Corning fiber-optic manufacturing plant in Hickory, North Carolina, may be the biggest winner in Corning's recent contract win. The company has been considering expanding the plant for a few years, but the Meta contract provides the impetus to get the project out of the planning stage and actually breaking ground. Industrial Info's prior GMI project report on the initial grassroot construction of the facility shows a 192,000-square-foot building that was completed in early 2023, specifically pointing to AT&T (San Antonio, Texas) as a client. Now the time has come to grow production at the facility.

The Meta contract is leading to an expansion of the Hickory plant, adding more than 150,000 additional square feet, to increase cable production. While IIR's report on the project suggests a 2027 start date for construction, this could very well be sooner in order to maximize manufacturing time for Meta and other clients.

Worth mentioning is that Microsoft is considering constructing a grassroot data center in Hickory. Click here to see the project report.

Other Big Tech Wins & Additional Expansion

The time seems ripe for Corning, which has seen its share price rise more than 75% over the past year. After Apple (Cupertino, California) last year agreed to move some of its manufacturing back to the U.S., Corning won big in August with a contract to supply all of the cover glass for Apple's iPhones and Apple Watches. The main Corning beneficiary from the deal is its Harrodsburg, Kentucky, plant, which will manufacture the specialized glass, and where Corning plans to upgrade production lines to expand capacity as well as open an innovation center for research. The plant will be solely dedicated to producing for Apple, which in a press release stated that the contract would increase Corning's Kentucky workforce by 50%. Subscribers can click here to learn more about the expansion project.

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About IIR News Intelligence
IIR News Intelligence is a trusted source of news for the industrial process and energy markets, powered by Industrial Info Resources' Global Market Intelligence (GMI).

About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, IIR is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 Trillion (USD).