Amazon has signed a multi-year agreement with Corning to secure fiber for its expanded US data center network. The deal will create 1,000 jobs at its Corning, North Carolina, plants, the companies said Monday.
summary
- Amazon has secured a multi-year Corning fiber deal for US data centers.
- The agreement will create 1,000 jobs at Corning, North Carolina, plants.
- Corning will expand technician training as demand for AI infrastructure grows.
Corning will supply fiber-optic cables and networking products used to connect servers, racks, chips and data centers. The agreement comes as Amazon increases spending on cloud infrastructure and artificial intelligence across the United States.
Corning to add jobs in North Carolina
According to CNBC a reportThe agreement will support production at its Corning, North Carolina, operations over several years. Corning will also expand a training program for fiber optic technicians in the state. These workers will support manufacturing associated with data center infrastructure, the companies said. Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Jarman said Amazon’s investments have created more than 26,000 jobs in North Carolina.
Last year, Amazon committed to spending $10 billion on new products Data centers In North Carolina. The latest agreement adds another supply deal linked to this expansion. Corning fiber products help move data across equipment within and between data centers. In a joint statement, the two companies said Corning’s optical fiber is an “important part” of Amazon’s infrastructure.
Demand for AI drives fiber orders
Demand for artificial intelligence Computing has increased orders for data center equipment. Corning’s optical communications business has become pivotal to this demand because fiber supports fast network connections. The company invented fiber optics for long-distance communications in 1970. Since then, Corning has supplied millions of miles of cable to major technology and cloud companies.
The Amazon deal comes on the heels of other large agreements involving Corning and major AI infrastructure customers. In May, Nvidia committed to investing up to $3.2 billion in Corning. This agreement includes three advanced manufacturing plants dedicated to Nvidia-related production. In January, Meta said it would spend up to $6 billion to support Corning’s optical cable plant in Hickory, North Carolina.
Corning shares rise after the deal
Corning shares rose 4% on Monday after Amazon The agreement became public. Amazon stock showed little change during the session. Corning shares have risen strongly this year as demand from hyperscale technology companies increases. The company is still best known for making the display glass used in Apple’s iPhones, but optical communications is now its biggest business.
Corning CEO Wendell Weeks said the Amazon agreement supports U.S. manufacturing. “This agreement with Amazon represents an important milestone for Corning and for American manufacturing,” Weeks said. He added that the deal will help build a flexible American manufacturing base. The companies did not reveal the exact financial value of the agreement.
