Amazon has struck a multi-billion dollar deal with a fiber optic and iPhone glass maker

Amazon, the world's largest cloud provider, has entered into a multi-year agreement with fiber optic manufacturer Corning to outfit its fast-growing data centers in the United States. The deal is a major new contract for Corning, a 175-year-old company that is experiencing a new phase of growth amid the artificial intelligence boom, CNBC notes. Corning's stock has already doubled in value this year thanks to the deal.

The contract between the companies, which was announced on June 8, is for several years and provides Amazon with fiber optic cables and networking solutions from Corning, which are used for high-speed data transfer between data centers, server racks and chips. Fiber optic cables manufactured by Corning are one of the key elements of AI infrastructure development, CNBC writes.

The partnership will create approximately 1,000 jobs at Corning's North Carolina facilities. Amazon Web Services and Corning will also jointly train fiber optic technology and fiber welding technicians to work at the new facilities.

"Amazon's data centers power the services that millions of people and businesses rely on every day. Corning's fiber optic solutions are an important part of that infrastructure, and our joint investments help support U.S. economic growth," the companies said in a joint statement.

After the announcement of the agreement, the shares of Corning grew at trading on Monday, June 8, about 9%, while Amazon's securities were cheaper by 0.6%. Since the beginning of the year, Corning's securities have risen 115%, and compared to the end of 2023, they are now worth almost six times more - thanks to the demand for infrastructure for AI, CNBC specifies.

For Corning, this is not the first major deal with tech giants amid the AI boom. In May 2026, Nvidia announced an investment of up to $3.2 billion in the company as part of an agreement to build three new manufacturing sites focused on optical solutions for AI infrastructure.

In January, Meta also announced plans to spend up to $6 billion to expand Corning's optical cable plant in North Carolina. The project is expected to create about 1,000 new jobs.

Although Corning is widely recognized as a supplier of protective glass for the iPhone, the optical communications division remains the company's largest and fastest-growing business, Barron's wrote. Since the invention of fiber optics for long-distance communications in 1970, Corning has supplied millions of miles of cables that are used to connect equipment in the data centers of major technology companies.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor