Meta Platforms has signed a multiyear agreement to pay Corning up to $6 billion through 2030 for fiber-optic cables to support its rapidly expanding AI data center infrastructure. The deal, announced Tuesday, sent Corning’s stock surging 16% in its best single-day performance in more than two decades.
Under the partnership, Corning will supply Meta with its latest generation optical fiber, cable and connectivity products specifically designed to meet the density and scale demands of advanced artificial intelligence data centers. The agreement positions Meta as the anchor customer for Corning’s significant capacity expansion in North Carolina.
Manufacturing Expansion Creates Thousands of Jobs
Corning plans to expand its manufacturing footprint across North Carolina operations, including a major capacity increase at its optical cable facility in Hickory. When complete, Corning says it will operate the largest fiber-optic cable plant in the world.
The investment will support employment growth of 15 to 20 percent in North Carolina, sustaining a skilled workforce of more than 5,000 employees. This includes thousands of jobs connected to two of the world’s largest optical fiber and cable manufacturing facilities, featuring scientists, engineers and production teams.
“This long-term partnership with Meta reflects Corning’s commitment to develop, innovate, and manufacture the critical technologies that power next-generation data centers here in the U.S.,” said Wendell Weeks, chairman and CEO of Corning.
Fiber Optics Essential for AI Infrastructure
The massive scale of the deal reflects the enormous infrastructure requirements of modern AI systems. Corning CEO Weeks revealed that Meta’s Louisiana data center alone will require 8 million miles of optical fiber. Over its 175-year history, Corning has produced more than 1.3 billion miles of optical fiber globally.
Fiber-optic technology offers significant advantages over traditional copper cabling for data transmission. Fiber cables transmit data as photons, pulses of light, rather than electrical signals, enabling near-light-speed data transfer while consuming substantially less power.
“Moving photons is between five and 20 times lower power usage than moving electrons,” Weeks explained in an interview with CNBC from Corning’s cable factory in Hickory.
Demand Outpacing Supply
Corning’s challenge now centers on keeping pace with unprecedented demand from hyperscalers, major cloud computing providers like Meta, Microsoft, Google, Amazon Web Services and OpenAI. The company’s stock has risen more than 75% over the past year as optical communications became its largest and fastest-growing business segment.
“Almost every phone call I get from my customers is trying to see, how do we get them more?” Weeks said. “I think next year the hyperscalers will be our biggest customers.”
The demand may intensify further as fiber gradually replaces copper within server racks. While copper cables currently dominate chip-to-chip connections inside servers, Weeks predicts fiber optics will become “inevitable” as the number of graphics processors per rack climbs into the hundreds, making fiber “much more economical and much more power efficient.”
Strategic Investment in US Infrastructure
The agreement aligns with Meta’s broader commitment to invest approximately $600 billion in U.S. technology infrastructure and jobs over the next three years. Earlier this month, Meta announced its “Meta Compute” initiative to expand AI infrastructure and oversee its global fleet of data centers and supplier partnerships.
“Building the most advanced data centers in the U.S. requires world-class partners and American manufacturing,” said Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer. “This collaboration will help create good-paying, skilled U.S. jobs, strengthen local economies, and help secure the U.S. lead in the global AI race.”
The partnership strengthens domestic supply chains while ensuring advanced data centers utilize U.S. innovation and manufacturing capabilities. Both Meta and Corning reported fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday.
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