Amazon bets billions on Corning fiber to wire up its AI data center buildout

Amazon is pouring billions into Corning’s optical fiber to wire up its rapidly expanding U.S. data center fleet, the latest mega-deal between two companies riding the AI infrastructure wave. The multiyear agreement, announced Monday, will create 1,000 jobs at Corning’s North Carolina factories and underscores how fiber optic cabling has become a backbone component for AI workloads. Corning’s technology enables the high-speed connections between data center racks and the GPUs inside them, a bottleneck that hyperscalers are racing to solve. Corning shares jumped 9% on the news; Amazon stock edged up about 1%.

“Amazon’s data centers power the services millions rely on every day,” the companies said in a joint statement. “Corning’s fiber optics are a critical piece of that infrastructure, and together these investments help fuel the U.S. economic engine.” The deal also expands a Corning training program for fiber optic technicians in North Carolina. AWS CEO Matt Garman noted that Amazon’s investments in the state have created over 26,000 jobs. Last year, Amazon committed $10 billion to new data centers in North Carolina.

For Corning, the AI boom has breathed new life into the 175-year-old glassmaker. Shares have more than doubled this year and are up nearly sixfold since the end of 2023. In May, Nvidia pledged up to $3.2 billion for Corning to build three new plants dedicated to its chips. And in January, Meta committed $6 billion as the flagship customer for Corning’s optical cable plant in Hickory, North Carolina, an expansion expected to create around 1,000 jobs. Corning is best known for making display glass for Apple’s iPhone, but optical communications is now its largest and fastest-growing business. Since inventing optical fiber in 1970, Corning has supplied millions of miles of cable to connect racks in AI data centers for all the major players.

The Trump administration has pushed Big Tech to onshore AI supply chain steps, and Corning’s U.S. manufacturing footprint helps answer that call. CEO Wendell Weeks told CNBC earlier this year that most of Corning’s business remains overseas, but added: “Next year the hyperscalers will be our biggest customers.” In Monday’s release, Weeks called the Amazon deal “a significant milestone for Corning and for American manufacturing,” saying it will “lead the way toward building a resilient U.S. manufacturing base.”