Nvidia to invest $3.2B in Corning to build next-generation AI optical infrastructure in the U.S.

The AI infrastructure race is no longer just about chips. It is now about what connects the chips. Nvidia, the chip giant sitting at the center of the AI boom, is partnering with glassmaker Corning to build three advanced manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas focused entirely on optical technologies for AI systems.

The companies said Wednesday the multiyear deal will create at least 3,000 jobs and increase Corning’s U.S. optical manufacturing capacity tenfold. The agreement gives Nvidia the right to invest up to $3.2 billion in Corning through a mix of warrants and pre-funded warrants tied to Corning shares. Financial terms tied to the factories themselves were not disclosed.

Investors reacted quickly. Corning shares jumped 12% on the news, pushing the stock’s one-year gain above 300%. Nvidia climbed nearly 6%, according to CNBC.

The partnership signals a major shift in how future AI data centers may be built. Nvidia appears to be preparing for a future where traditional copper wiring inside AI systems gets replaced by optical glass fibers capable of moving data faster and using far less energy.

That transition has become increasingly important as AI systems grow larger and consume more electricity. At Nvidia’s GTC conference in 2025, CEO Jensen Huang described co-packaged optics as critical to the next phase of AI infrastructure.

“AI is driving the largest infrastructure buildout of our time — and a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reinvigorate American manufacturing and supply chains,” Huang said in the announcement.

“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,” Huang added.

Corning CEO Wendell Weeks framed the partnership as part of a broader manufacturing revival in the U.S.

The two companies have benefited significantly from the surge in AI spending following the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022. Nvidia’s GPUs became the backbone of large language models and massive AI data centers operated by companies like Meta and Alphabet. Corning, known to consumers for the glass used in Apple iPhones, quietly became one of the key suppliers of the physical infrastructure linking AI servers.

Optical communications is now Corning’s largest and fastest-growing business. The company invented low-loss optical fiber in 1970 and has spent decades supplying millions of miles of fiber-optic cable for telecom networks and data centers.

Now those fibers are moving closer to the chips themselves.

Inside Nvidia’s push to solve AI’s growing power problem

Inside Nvidia’s rack-scale AI systems, thousands of copper cables currently move electrical signals between processors and networking components. Optical fibers transmit data using light instead of electricity, reducing power consumption and improving speed.

“Moving photons is between five and 20 times lower power usage than moving electrons,” Weeks told CNBC earlier this year.

Research firm Omdia says the economics become more attractive as AI systems scale into hundreds of GPUs packed tightly into single server racks.

“You’re bringing the light conversion process right next to the computer chip,” said Vlad Galabov. “Less power is wasted because now you’re traveling a few millimeters, which requires far less energy than traveling across the circuit board.”

Nvidia’s next AI bet goes beyond GPUs and into the network itself

The move comes as power demand inside AI data centers becomes one of the industry’s biggest bottlenecks. Nvidia’s newest AI systems already consume enormous amounts of electricity, and analysts expect future systems to push those requirements much higher.

Corning’s role in the AI supply chain has grown steadily over the past year. In January, Meta said it would spend up to $6 billion to support Corning’s optical cable plant expansion in Hickory, North Carolina. That project is expected to create roughly 1,000 jobs.

Nvidia has been investing aggressively across the optical networking sector. In March, the company invested $4 billion in Coherent and Lumentum, two companies that make laser and optical components used to convert electrical signals into light.

Competitors are moving in the same direction. Broadcom, Marvell Technology, and Intel are all developing co-packaged optical products for next-generation AI systems.

For Nvidia, the partnership with Corning is about more than fiber cables. It is about securing control over another critical layer of the AI stack as the industry races to build larger and more power-hungry systems.

Nvidia