Corning Incorporated

Amazon.com Inc introduced a redesigned hardware portfolio on Thursday, unveiling three new tablets that integrate Google's Play Store app suite and feature built-in artificial intelligence through its Alexa+ engine. The lineup marks a strategic pivot for the Seattle-based e-commerce giant, which is retiring its low-cost Fire brand in favor of premium hardware aimed at directly challenging Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. The new product architecture includes the Amazon Alexa Tablet 8, 11, and 12 Pro, priced at $230, $330, and $500, respectively. By incorporating full Android app compatibility, including core platforms like Gmail, YouTube, and Google Docs alongside its native Prime and Kindle services, Amazon is seeking to eliminate the software limitations that historically relegated its hardware to budget media consumption. The aggressive release comes as the global tablet sector faces an ongoing contraction, exacerbated by lingering memory-chip supply constraints and broader macroeconomic pressure, with industry data from IDC cited by Bloomberg showing worldwide tablet shipments declined 12.3% year-over-year in the second quarter, while leader Apple is projected to post sub-2% growth in its iPad segment this year following a modest expansion in 2025. To overcome category headwinds, Amazon is relying on competitive price points and high-end features to capture market share ahead of Apple's planned iPad refresh cycle in 2027, with the flagship 12 Pro model featuring a thin aluminum unibody frame, an optional anti-glare Nanomatte display engineered alongside Corning Incorporated, and productivity accessories like a magnetic keyboard and active stylus. The tablets are available for pre-order immediately and will begin shipping in North American markets on Oct. 14, followed by a European rollout on Oct. 19.

Corning Incorporated's Board of Directors declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28 per share on October 6, 2026. The dividend will be payable on December 11, 2026, to shareholders of record on November 13, 2026. The declaration was announced by the Corning, New York-based materials science company, whose shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker GLW.

T1 Energy Inc. is expanding beyond solar-module manufacturing to build a more vertically integrated U.S. solar supply chain. The company operates G1_Dallas for module production, which produced 935 MW of modules in the second quarter of 2026, and is developing G2_Austin, a planned 2.1 GW solar-cell facility, with first solar-cell production targeted for first-quarter 2027. T1 expects production to increase in the second half of 2026, with full-year output reaching the upper end of its 3.1 GW to 4.2 GW guidance. In July 2026, T1 acquired foundational solar patents and other intellectual property from Evervolt for $135 million, covering TOPCon solar cells and modules. T1 is also integrating the upstream supply chain through agreements with Hemlock Semiconductor for U.S.-produced polysilicon and Corning for U.S.-produced wafers, which will supply G2_Austin for cell production, with those cells then used in modules at G1_Dallas. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 and 2027 earnings per share indicates an increase of 78.68% and 114.29%, respectively, year over year.

Corning announced a multi-year agreement valued at over $3 billion with AT&T to supply fiber and cable for nationwide network growth, sending its shares up 3.1% in the pre-market session. The deal is structured to support AT&T's broadband expansion, with production backed by Corning's U.S. manufacturing facilities, as the companies aim to meet accelerating broadband demand driven by internet use and artificial intelligence. The agreement represents a multi-year commitment exceeding $3 billion for Corning's optical fiber products. The stock was trading at $158.65, up 4.7% from the previous close. Corning shares are up 75% since the start of the year but remain 38% below their 52-week high of $255.69 from June 2026.

Corning Incorporated has signed a multi-year agreement with AT&T valued at more than $3 billion to supply fiber and cable for AT&T's network expansion, sending Corning shares up 3% Tuesday morning. Under the deal, Corning will provide the fiber and cable AT&T needs to bring internet connectivity to more Americans, supporting AT&T's commitment to deliver fast internet to 60 million Americans by the end of 2030. The agreement builds on both companies' U.S. investments: AT&T has committed more than $250 billion over five years to strengthen U.S. connectivity infrastructure, while Corning continues to expand its U.S. fiber and cable manufacturing, including at North Carolina facilities that have created hundreds of jobs. AT&T said the average AT&T Fiber household now uses more than 1 terabyte per month, five times the 2016 level, with monthly use expected to reach 2 to 2.5 terabytes by 2030. AT&T reiterated the financial outlook and capital allocation plan from its second-quarter 2026 earnings release, which reflects the financial impact of this agreement.

Corning, Qualcomm and Lumentum plan to showcase a high-density die to die optical connectivity solution at ECOC 2026. The joint demo targets AI scale up architectures that require higher bandwidth, lower latency and tighter power budgets for chip interconnects, and the ECOC 2026 presentation will highlight massively parallel optical D2D links paired with high density fiber to support advanced AI data centers. The project taps Corning's existing role supplying fiber and optical technology to large infrastructure buyers rather than representing a completely new line of work, positioning its multimode fiber alongside Qualcomm's interface IP and Lumentum's VCSEL engines. The unresolved piece is commercial proof: the clearest early sign that this direction is working will be whether Corning starts pointing to concrete D2D or co packaged optics wins in its AI focused optical order book or in follow on agreements tied to the 2027 to 2032 style long term fiber deals already in place.

A $1000 investment in Corning made in September 2016 would be worth $6,924.22 as of September 22, 2026, a 592.42% gain that excludes dividends but includes price increases, according to Zacks Investment Research calculations. Over the same period the S&P 500 rose 258.96% and gold rose 212.28%. Corning's second-quarter 2026 results exceeded consensus, with Optical Communications, which accounted for 43.7% of segment sales, posting a 32% year-over-year sales increase on hyperscale demand, while Solar sales rose 90% year over year. Multiyear agreements with Amazon and NVIDIA enhance revenue visibility, and management expects third-quarter core sales of $4.9-$5.0 billion and EPS of 85-89 cents. The Solar segment posted a $7 million net loss following a maintenance shutdown, and the company faces cyclical consumer electronics and automotive exposure, customer concentration risk and China-related tariff uncertainty.

AFL, Corning Incorporated, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd., and TeraHop PTE. LTD. announced the completion of the SDM4 Multicore Fiber Multi-Source Agreement and the public release of the SDM4 Multicore Fiber MSA Technical Specifications, Version 1.0. The specification defines common geometrical, optical, mechanical and measurement requirements for a four-core multicore fiber intended for AI data centers, campus networks and other short-reach optical links, completing the objective the MSA set out to achieve: an industry-defined technical foundation for multi-vendor interoperability and future international standardization of four-core multicore fiber. Key elements include a four-core, square-lattice 2x2 core arrangement with a core pitch of 40 plus or minus 1 micrometers, a nominal cladding diameter of 125 micrometers, optical characteristics suitable for O-band short-reach applications, and crosstalk limits of minus 40 dB or less at 1 km and 1310 nm for both adjacent and diagonal core pairs. Antonio Castano, Chair of the SDM4 MCF MSA, said the specification establishes a common technical foundation that can help accelerate adoption of multicore fiber across the industry by aligning around a shared four-core fiber design. The MSA said frequent revisions are not anticipated and that future evolution of requirements for this class of fiber is expected to be advanced through relevant international standards-development organizations, with the published specification serving as a technical reference for discussions within ITU-T, IEC and organizations such as IEEE.

Corning Incorporated is expanding its partner base across the technology, cloud, networking and telecom sectors, signing a series of multibillion-dollar agreements tied to AI infrastructure buildouts. In the first half of 2026, Corning entered a multiyear agreement worth up to $6 billion with Meta to supply optical fiber, cable and connectivity products for Meta's U.S. data-center expansion, and also signed a multibillion-dollar, multiyear agreement with Amazon to support its AI data center expansion. Corning has additionally formed a multiyear commercial and technology partnership with NVIDIA under which it plans to increase its U.S. optical-connectivity manufacturing capacity tenfold and expand U.S. fiber production by more than 50 percent. Verizon and Corning announced a multibillion-dollar, multiyear agreement covering more than 80 million miles of high-density optical fiber and connectivity solutions from 2027 through 2032, supporting both broadband expansion and the long-haul network needed to connect AI infrastructure. Beyond those large contracts, Corning is collaborating with US Conec as a licensee of the PRIZM TMT optical ferrule technology, designed to accommodate higher fiber counts in tighter spaces for denser AI data centers. Corning faces competition from Amphenol Corporation and Ciena Corporation, and its growth outlook remains dependent on the pace of AI infrastructure investment and the timing of large customer deployments.

Corning Incorporated shares doubled during the second quarter of 2026, according to Reaves W H & Co Inc's second-quarter 2026 investor letter, which highlighted the company as a leading contributor to its Reaves Long Term Value Wrap Strategy. The letter said management used an investor day to deliver strong, positive revisions to its multi-year outlook, and that late in the quarter global competitors added further fuel to the rally by citing robust demand and pricing for fiber optic products. Corning's CFO also floated the possibility of building a production facility in South Korea for glass substrates used in semiconductor chip packaging, a product line the letter described as incremental to management's investor-day forecasts. Corning closed at $144.16 per share on September 16, 2026, returned 1.41% over the past month, gained 92.89% over the past 52 weeks, and carries a market capitalization of $125.38 billion. The Reaves Long Term Value Wrap Strategy rose 10.55% in the quarter, outperforming the MSCI USA Infrastructure Index's 6.31% decline, while cash distributions grew 6.7% compared to the second quarter of 2025.

On September 17, the glass substrate sector rallied, with WG Tech quickly surging to its daily limit-up at the open, while Linuo Packaging, BOE, Caihong Display Devices, and Red Star Development followed higher. On the news front, on September 11, Corning announced that due to exchange rate and inflation factors, it will implement price adjustments of 15% or more globally for yen-denominated display glass substrate products, effective from the fourth quarter of 2026.

Corning Incorporated has entered into a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar agreement with Verizon Communications Inc. to support the expansion of broadband networks and next-generation artificial intelligence infrastructure. Under the deal, Corning will supply more than 80 million miles of high-density optical fiber and connectivity solutions from 2027 through 2032 for Verizon's nationwide broadband expansion, serving residential customers, businesses and mobile networks, and including high-capacity fiber for long-haul network corridors connecting data centers. The agreement, spanning more than three decades of partnership, is expected to support Corning's U.S. manufacturing expansion as it scales production to meet growing demand. Corning faces competition from Amphenol Corporation and Lumen Technologies, which are also expanding fiber-optic and high-capacity network capabilities for AI and data-center connectivity. Corning shares have rallied 124.8% over the past year, and earnings estimates for 2026 have increased 2.5% to $3.27 while 2027 estimates have risen 1.7% to $4.28 over the past 60 days.

Verizon and Corning have reached a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement for over 80 million miles of high-density optical fiber, aimed at expanding broadband connectivity and building networks for AI data centers. Corning, which is manufacturing the fiber, benefits more than Verizon, as the deal adds to its existing contracts with Meta, Amazon, and NVIDIA. Corning shares rose 14.04% over the past week to close at $165.99, while Verizon closed at $50.41, up 29.99% year to date. Corning rates a Buy with a forward P/E of 35x and an analyst target of $191.40, while Verizon is a Hold, best owned for its covered dividend of $0.7075 per quarter.

Verizon and Corning have announced a multi-billion dollar supply agreement for over 80 million miles of high-density optical fiber and connectivity solutions from 2027 to 2032, aimed at expanding broadband access and building AI infrastructure. The deal supports Verizon's push toward 40-50 million broadband passings and its AI Connect strategy, which deploys ultra-dense cables across long-haul corridors to connect data centers. Corning will scale its U.S. manufacturing to supply products like Corning Contour Flow Cable, deepening a 30-year partnership. Verizon CEO Kyle Malady and Corning's Mike O'Day highlighted the deal's role in enabling a converged network for homes, businesses, and AI hyperscalers such as Amazon Web Services.

South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on the 4th that four U.S. companies have decided to invest a total of $2 billion in South Korea in the fields of semiconductors, advanced materials, and energy. The investments were announced at a ceremony attended by Trade Minister Cheong In-kyo in Washington on the 3rd. U.S. industrial gas giant Air Products will expand facilities for semiconductor gases and rare gases in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, and semiconductor equipment maker Axcelis will expand its production of ion implantation equipment in South Korea. Additionally, materials giant Corning will invest in advanced glass and other materials used in displays and semiconductors, and renewable energy developer Pacifico Energy will proceed with a 3.2-gigawatt offshore wind power project in the southwest, where a new semiconductor cluster is expected to be established.

Amazon has signed a multiyear, multibillion-dollar agreement with Corning Incorporated for optical fiber, cable, and connectivity products, marking a strategic move to secure supply for its AI infrastructure. The deal, announced on June 8, is expected to support about 1,000 jobs in North Carolina, as Amazon pushes annual capital spending toward roughly $220 billion. Corning also has a separate agreement to provide Meta with up to $6 billion of products, reinforcing the view that optical infrastructure is becoming a durable bottleneck. Amazon benefits from securing supply and shaping products for its own architecture, while Corning gains scale and a marquee customer, though both face risks: Amazon must spend before AI revenue fully arrives, and Corning faces customer concentration and cyclicality. Hedge-fund ownership increased for both companies, with Amazon held by 369 funds and Corning by 99 funds in the second quarter.

The global fiber optical cable market is projected to grow from $16.34 billion in 2025 to $36.78 billion by 2035, according to a new report from ResearchAndMarkets.com. The market, which grew at a compound annual growth rate of 10% since 2020, is expected to expand at a CAGR of 9.1% from 2025 to 2030, reaching $25.21 billion, and then at a CAGR of 7.8% through 2035. Growth is driven by 5G deployment, data center expansion, and broadband initiatives, though challenges include supply chain disruptions and trade tariffs. In 2025, glass optical fiber dominated with 88.9% of the market, single-mode cable led with 62.5%, and telecommunications applications accounted for 55.7%. Asia-Pacific was the largest regional market at $6.81 billion, with a 41.7% share, and is also forecast to be the fastest-growing region through 2030. The report profiles major players including Corning, Prysmian, and Sumitomo Electric Industries.

Thaweesuk Thammasak, an independent scholar of international economics, said at a Thun Hoon seminar that US sanctions on Iran have almost no effect because Iran has been sanctioned for 37 years and has already adapted. Iran has destroyed more than 80% of the main US bases in the Middle East and shot down more than 50 US refueling aircraft in Saudi Arabia, forcing the US to retreat to Jordan and making it unable to fly to Iran. The only remaining option is nuclear, but that is checked by Russia, China, and North Korea. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea have been closed, causing a global oil shortage and oil prices will surge this October, with the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve having only 14 days of supply left. Thaweesuk estimates that Iran is attacking the heart of the US by pushing bond yields higher, until the US has to intervene by increasing the auction size for buying its own bonds, with BlackRock helping manage the secondary market amid foreign selling of long-term bonds. If bond yields break above 6%, it will lead to a global stock market plunge and the Fed will have to cut rates to 0% immediately, which is an opportunity to buy cheap long-term bonds and sell for profit when prices rebound. For the Thai economy, Thaweesuk sees GDP slowing and staying sluggish because the government lacks a structural reform plan, with 2028 possibly as bad as 2027, and attracting data centers does not help spread income to the grassroots. He recommends watching stocks in the photonics supply chain such as Corning, Coherent, and Fibernet, along with trends in space technology and quantum computing where China is the leader.

Corning has secured multi-year, multi-billion-dollar supply agreements with Meta and Zayo for advanced optical fiber solutions tied to AI data center and network buildouts in the US. The Meta deal focuses on high-capacity optical connectivity for next-generation AI data center infrastructure, while the Zayo agreement centers on supplying optical fiber for large scale US network deployments that support AI driven traffic. These contracts signal a new phase for Corning as a key supplier for critical AI infrastructure beyond its traditional glass business. Corning's Springboard plan aims to add more than $4 billion in annualized sales by 2026, driven by strong demand in Optical Communications and Solar sectors.

Artificial intelligence is transforming glass fiber manufacturing, highlighted by a multiyear agreement between Corning and Meta valued at up to $6 billion to accelerate U.S. AI data center infrastructure. The deal, announced in March 2026, supports advanced glass solutions for high-speed connectivity and underscores glass fiber's strategic role in the AI computing ecosystem. North America and Asia-Pacific are leading AI adoption, with Owens Corning transitioning to a reliability-as-a-service framework and Saint-Gobain applying generative AI and digital twins to optimize production. Recent funding includes Rescale's $115 million from Applied Materials and NVIDIA, Lumotive's $45 million Series B, and Machina Labs' $32 million raise.

Electronic components stocks delivered an exceptional second quarter, with the eight companies tracked by this analysis beating revenue consensus estimates by 3.3% and guiding next quarter's revenue 6.9% above expectations. Littelfuse reported revenues of $738.8 million, up 20.4% year on year and 5.4% above estimates, while Allient posted $153.8 million, up 10.2% and 5.5% above estimates. nLIGHT was the weakest performer, with revenues of $82.59 million up 33.8% year on year but next quarter's EBITDA guidance missing significantly, sending its stock down 28.1%. Corning reported $4.74 billion in revenues, up 17.1% and 2% above estimates, but had the weakest guidance update among peers. Bel Fuse reported $210.7 million, up 25.2% and 1.6% above estimates, with strong EPS and revenue guidance beats. Share prices for the group have risen 15.1% on average since the latest earnings results.

Corning CEO Wendell Weeks said tariffs have a de minimis impact on the company because 90% of its U.S. revenue comes from U.S.-origin products and only 1% of U.S. sales are made in China. Speaking on Jim Cramer's Mad Money on August 14, 2026, Weeks attributed this insulation to Corning's philosophy of locating factories close to customers to compete on innovation. The company's stock has surged 93% year to date, supported by second-quarter core EPS of $0.78 beating consensus and a 32% rise in Optical Communications revenue. Corning supplies Apple, Nvidia, and Amazon from U.S. facilities, a footprint built for customer proximity that also shields it from import duties.

AI infrastructure stocks edged higher in pre-market trading on Monday after Anthropic's second quarter revenue surged to $11.5B, nearly two-and-a-half times the first quarter's $4.7B figure. The Dario Amodei-led firm also recorded positive adjusted operating income for the first time. Memory and storage companies rose, with Micron Technology up 3%, Seagate Technology up 2.5%, Sandisk up 3.5%, Western Digital up 2.6%, and Nasdaq newcomer SK Hynix up 3%. Networking stocks were mostly higher, with Lumentum Holdings, Ciena, and Corning all up 1.5%, while Applied Optoelectronics and Coherent both increased 1.7%. Chipmakers were modestly higher, with Intel and Nvidia both up about 0.7%, after Nvidia slashed its financial backing for a massive OpenAI data center project in Ohio from $250B to less than $120B. The largest hyperscalers were mixed, with Oracle down 1.1%, Microsoft down 0.7%, Google up 0.2%, and Amazon up 1.4%.

Nvidia is deploying its surging free cash flow into strategic investments, committing at least $6.5 billion to photonics companies including $2 billion each for Lumintum (LITE), Coherent Corporation (COHR), and Marvell Technology (MRVL), plus $500 million for Corning (GLW). The chipmaker also reportedly plans to invest up to $3 billion in privately held Lancium, an energy and data center infrastructure company backed by Blackstone, taking an initial 20% stake for $2 billion with a potential additional $1 billion tied to performance targets. Lancium owns the 1.2-gigawatt Lancium Clean Campus in Abilene, Texas, site of the $500 billion Stargate project. Nvidia's free cash flow has grown from $3.8 billion in fiscal 2023 to $96.67 billion in fiscal 2026, and the company is working with Blackstone, BlackRock, Apollo, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs, and KKR to mobilize over $500 billion in third-party capital for AI infrastructure.

Lumentum shares surged 15% to $942 in midday trading Wednesday after the optical components maker reported fiscal Q4 2026 revenue of $1.01 billion, more than doubling year over year and topping the $988.6 million consensus, with non-GAAP EPS of $3.23 versus the $2.99 consensus and non-GAAP gross margin of 50.4%. The company guided fiscal Q1 2027 revenue of $1.225 billion to $1.275 billion and EPS of $4.05 to $4.35, with CEO Michael Hurlston saying it will hit its $1.25 billion quarterly revenue target more than a quarter early, pump-laser shipments up more than 80% year over year and effectively sold out, and the 1.6T transceiver ramp accelerating. The rally spilled across the AI optics complex, with Coherent up 9% to $358, Corning up 5% to $167, Applied Optoelectronics up 3% to $139, Ciena up 13%, and the iShares Semiconductor ETF trading at $551, while Super Micro Computer jumped 16%, CoreWeave soared 20%, and Nebius Group surged 27% on AI infrastructure prints that reinforced hyperscaler capex momentum. JPMorgan raised its Lumentum price target to $1,280 from $1,165 with an Overweight rating, Mizuho lifted its target to $1,140 from $1,100 with an Outperform rating, and Morgan Stanley raised its target to $1,000 from $900 with an Equal Weight rating, while Bank of America cut its target to $1,000 from $1,100 with a Neutral rating even after raising CY2027 and CY2028 EPS estimates by 19% each, reflecting a de-rating across shortage-area names.

Corning Incorporated shares rose 7.6% after the company reported second-quarter 2026 sales of US$4,505 million and improved earnings per share compared with a year earlier, while also completing a multi-year share repurchase program totaling 48,600,078 shares for about US$2.03 billion. The company issued third-quarter guidance calling for approximately 16% year-over-year growth in core sales and about 28% growth in core earnings per share to a range of US$0.85 to US$0.89, reinforcing investor focus on its role in supplying materials for data centers and AI-related demand. The results and outlook strengthen the near-term growth narrative tied to data-center and AI demand, though longer-term risks around tariffs and competition remain.

The White House declared an automotive renaissance is underway, pointing to billions of dollars in new investments by major automakers and other companies in Michigan. General Motors has invested more than $6 billion in U.S. manufacturing since 2025, including $830 million to strengthen three propulsion facilities. Ford committed $3 billion to BlueOval Battery Park Michigan, supporting 1,700 jobs, and roughly $2 billion to overhaul its Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky, with the combined projects creating or securing nearly 4,000 jobs. Stellantis is directing hundreds of millions of dollars toward Michigan, including a $388 million megahub in Van Buren Township, a $140 million expansion in Detroit, and $100 million to add production in Warren. The White House also highlighted investments beyond the Detroit Three, such as a planned hyperscale data center campus worth more than $7 billion involving OpenAI, Oracle, and Related Digital, as well as a $1.5 billion investment by Corning adding over 400 advanced manufacturing jobs.