Corning Reports Strong Sales, Expands Domestic Manufacturing Capacity

The company sees strong demand for U.S.-made solar products.

Glassblower William Gudenrath with a dragon-stem goblet at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y. Mike Groll/AP Photo

U.S. materials giant Corning Inc. reported first-quarter 2025 sales and earnings that rose above expectations, driven by strong demand for generative artificial intelligence (AI). It also sees strong demand for U.S.-made solar products. Its shares rose in pre-market trade.

On the morning of April 29, the upstate New York-based company reported a 13 percent jump in core sales from the previous year, to $3.7 billion, with core earnings per share up 42 percent, to $0.54.

The core operating margin expanded by 250 basis points year over year, to 18 percent.

In Optical Communications, enterprise business sales climbed 106 percent due to continued strong demand for new products related to generative AI.

Meanwhile, Corning is expanding its domestic manufacturing capacity to meet the strong demand for U.S.-made solar products.

In early March, Corning, together with Suniva and Heliene, announced a deal to create an entirely domestic solar manufacturing supply chain, offering substantial potential for the industry and the nation’s energy future.

The company expects sales growth to continue in the second quarter, with core sales reaching $3.85 billion and core earnings per share growing faster than sales, ranging from $0.55 to $0.59.

Management credited Corning’s robust performance to its Springboard plan, which applies the company’s differentiated and distinctive core capabilities to develop radical category products for fast-growing markets. These highly engineered products drive profitable and sustainable growth, creating long-term value.

“We’re well positioned to maintain momentum despite a dynamic external environment because our growth is underpinned by powerful secular trends that are underway today,” said Wendell P. Weeks, the company’s chairman and CEO.

“For example, we’re seeing remarkable customer response to both our innovations for Gen AI data centers and our U.S.-made solar products, and we are accelerating our production ramps for both.”

As of 12:50 p.m. EST on April 29, Corning’s shares had increased by 1.79 percent. Over the past five years, the stock has doubled, outperforming the S&P 500 Index, which gained 88 percent during the same period.

Corning has long been a serial innovator, surviving scores of recessions and depressions by mastering the art of “creative destruction”—the shedding of mature products and businesses, and redirecting resources to new companies that develop products for emerging, fast-growing markets.

Over its 174-year history, the company has resurrected itself several times by leveraging and combining core capabilities—the processing of glass substances—to develop scores of blockbuster products. This strategy has helped the company reduce innovation costs while creating higher and more sustainable competitive “moats.”

Corning’s blockbuster products have included the glass for Edison’s electric lamp, traditional TV tubes, heat-resistant glass for missiles and kitchenware, fiber-optic cables that power the Internet, and glass for flat-panel TVs.

Some of Corning’s products have created an entirely new market category, such as flat glass that changes the shape and appearance of TVs and computers. Others are required by government regulations, such as the catalytic converter system and ceramic substrate, which help neutralize the toxic mix of gaseous pollutants, including hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and carbon monoxide.

According to the company, light and heavy-duty vehicle emissions have dropped by an astounding 99 percent since 1975, when the widespread adoption of the catalytic converter started in the United States.

More recently, Corning began manufacturing Gorilla Glass, an innovative, transparent, and strengthenable glass-ceramic material that has changed the face of mobile devices.

Gorilla Glass Ceramic significantly improves drop performance on rough surfaces compared to competitive aluminosilicate glasses. It makes the screens of mobile devices such as iPhones almost unscratchable and more than tough enough to handle daily wear and tear.

In March, Corning launched GlassWorks AI Solutions, a one-stop shop for customized data-center products and services designed to build the dense fiber infrastructure required for generative AI. These products offer industry-leading cable and connectivity solutions, as well as best-in-class network planning, design, and deployment support.

“With GlassWorks AI, Corning is drawing on its world-leading expertise in materials science to create breakthrough products that expand the possibilities of generative AI for our customers, both inside and outside the data center,” said Sean Kelly, vice president and business director for Corning’s Data Center Business Unit.

“Our new Contour Flow cable is a great example of our innovations—helping data centers connect their city-to-city networks quickly and cost-effectively, delivering future-ready optical performance without the need for expensive infrastructure buildouts.”