Corning Inc. on Tuesday unveiled an agreement valued at up to $6 billion to supply Meta Platforms Inc. with fiber optic cable components destined for sprawling data center projects—an industrial handshake aimed squarely at the infrastructure powering artificial intelligence.
The multiyear pact will push Corning to expand manufacturing in North Carolina, the company said, as it ramps up capacity to meet Meta’s demand for high-performance optical connectivity.
Hickory Plant to Anchor Expansion
Meta will become the anchor customer for an expanded optical cable manufacturing facility in Hickory, North Carolina, Corning said. The site will serve as a hub for producing components designed to shuttle massive volumes of data at lightning speed—arteries for the digital economy’s beating heart.
Corning Chief Executive Wendell Weeks said the long-term agreement is expected to drive a 15% to 20% increase in the company’s North Carolina workforce, lifting total employment in the state to more than 5,000.
