Expanding optical manufacturing capacity tenfold, NVIDIA and Corning are investing in new US facilities and jobs to support rapidly growing artificial intelligence infrastructure demand.
NVIDIA and Corning Incorporated have announced a long-term commercial and technology partnership to expand US manufacturing capacity for optical connectivity products used in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Under the agreement, Corning plans to increase its US optical connectivity manufacturing capacity tenfold and raise domestic fibre production capacity by more than 50 per cent to support growing demand linked to large-scale AI data centre deployments.
The expansion programme includes the construction of three new advanced manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas. Corning said the investment is expected to create more than 3000 jobs in the United States (US).
The partnership focuses on supplying optical connectivity systems required by hyperscale data centres deploying NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platforms. AI workloads increasingly depend on large clusters of graphics processing units (GPUs), creating demand for high-capacity optical fibre, photonics and networking technologies capable of transferring data at high speed across large computing systems.
As AI infrastructure expands, optical connectivity is becoming an increasingly important component in supporting communication between computing nodes and data centres. Corning, which developed low-loss optical fibre technology, said its manufacturing expansion is intended to address this growing demand.
Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA, said, “AI is driving the largest infrastructure buildout of our time, and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate American manufacturing and supply chains. Together with Corning, we are inventing the future of computing with advanced optical technologies, building the foundation for AI infrastructure where intelligence moves at the speed of light while advancing the proud tradition of Made in America.”
Wendell P. Weeks, chairman, CEO and president of Corning, added, “What NVIDIA is doing is nothing short of extraordinary, not just for the future of artificial intelligence, but for the American advanced manufacturing workforce. Their commitment is directly fuelling the expansion of our US manufacturing footprint and creating more than 3000 new, high-paying jobs for American workers.”
He further said, “This partnership is proof that AI is not just a technology story. It is a manufacturing story, and it is happening here in the US. Together with NVIDIA, we are ensuring the critical technologies powering AI are invented, engineered and built in America.”
