NVIDIA and Corning Partner to Expand U.S. AI Optical Communications Capacity

AI factories must connect thousands of GPUs into large computing clusters, making the optical fiber, connectors and photonic components needed for data transmission critical infrastructure alongside chips. NVIDIA has therefore partnered with optical fiber maker Corning to strengthen the U.S. domestic supply chain and ease capacity expansion bottlenecks.

NVIDIA and Corning announced a multiyear partnership on May 6, 2026. A day later, their CEOs confirmed that NVIDIA would also provide several billion dollars in upfront payments and receive an option to invest up to $3.2 billion in Corning equity. Corning will build three plants in North Carolina and Texas, increasing its U.S. optical communications capacity tenfold and its fiber capacity by more than 50%, while creating more than 3,000 jobs.