As part of a larger move leading to the expansion of broadband throughout the country, Corning Incorporated has announced plans to build a large new manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona.
The new plant will focus on the production of optical cable, supplying AT&T projects.
Headquartered in the city of Corning, New York, the Corning company specializes in everything from ceramics to specialty glass and advanced optics.
Founded in 1851, the company has mostly produced optical fiber and cable for the communications industry out of its massive plants in Concord and Wilmington, North Carolina.
The new plant in Gilbert will be the company’s western-most optical cable manufacturing site.
“We believe access to broadband means access to opportunity, from education to healthcare to quality of life,” Wendell Weeks, chief executive officer of Corning, said in announcing the new Gilbert facility.
Corning’s partnership with AT&T, continued Weeks, will help the company expand its “U.S. manufacturing capacity and train the next generation of American workers.”
In the last two years, Corning has invested up to $500 million in fiber and cable manufacturing.
Work on the new Gilbert facility is expected to begin this fall, with a planned completion date of early 2024.
Corning traces its roots to 1851, when it began as the Bay State Glass Company, manufacturing a variety of glassware that eventually included the first mass produced light bulbs.
By Garry Boulard
