Nvidia and Corning Strike Optical Fiber Deal to Power AI Infrastructure
CNBC reported Wednesday that Nvidia and Corning have announced a sweeping Nvidia Corning optical fiber partnership, with three new advanced US manufacturing facilities set to come online in North Carolina and Texas.
A Deal Built for the AI Era
The plants will be dedicated entirely to optical technologies serving Nvidia’s AI systems. Corning expects to grow its domestic optical manufacturing capacity by tenfold as a result. The companies said the expansion will generate at least 3,000 new jobs. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Markets reacted sharply to the announcement. Corning shares jumped roughly 15% on the news, while Nvidia gained close to 3%. The deal unites two companies whose growth has been fuelled by the explosion in AI infrastructure spending since OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022.
Why Glass Is Replacing Copper
The technology at the heart of this partnership is co-packaged optics. The approach involves substituting copper cables inside Nvidia’s rack-scale AI systems with ultra-thin glass fiber strands. Data transmitted as photons through optical fiber travels far faster and consumes significantly less energy than electrons moving through copper.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang called co-packaged optics essential to the broader AI buildout at Nvidia’s GTC conference in 2025. The company’s flagship Vera Rubin rack-scale system currently relies on thousands of copper connections that fiber could eventually replace.
Corning CEO Wendell Weeks said in a joint press release that what Nvidia is pursuing is extraordinary both for AI’s future and for the American advanced manufacturing workforce.
Background: Two Companies Riding the AI Wave
Corning is best known for producing the display glass used in Apple’s iPhone, but its optical communications division is its largest and fastest-growing segment. The company invented long-range optical fiber back in 1970 and has since supplied millions of cable miles to major data center operators globally.
Its pivot toward AI infrastructure has driven Corning shares up more than 250% over the past year. In January, Meta committed up to $6 billion to anchor a Corning cable plant expansion in Hickory, North Carolina, a project alone expected to add roughly 1,000 jobs.
Nvidia’s own rise has been steeper still. The chipmaker’s stock has climbed approximately 14-fold over five years, with its GPUs forming the backbone of large language model training and hyperscaler data center buildouts at companies including Alphabet and Meta.
What Comes Next for Both Companies
Analysts have long anticipated Nvidia deploying co-packaged optics at scale, given the technology’s promise for faster data throughput and lower energy costs per AI workload. Wednesday’s announcement suggests that timeline is accelerating.
The Corning partnership also signals a broader industry shift away from copper interconnects inside AI rack systems, a transition that could reshape component supply chains across the data center sector.
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