Corning Earnings: Fiber Is Now Almost Half of Corning's Sales
Gorilla Glass maker Corning is turning into a fiber company, with almost half its sales from fiber, cable and connectors (46.8% in the third quarter of 2026, by our count). That business, which supplies phone networks and AI data centers, grew 44% to $2.38 billion and brought about nine tenths of Corning’s reported growth.
The short answer. Corning’s third quarter results, out October 27, show a glass company turning into a fiber company. Fiber is now the biggest part of its sales and about 60% of the profit its businesses report. That matters well beyond its shareholders, because the same strands of glass carry home internet and link the chips inside AI data centers. A market research firm expects fiber to stay short through at least 2028. Its shares closed on October 26 about 46% above their last close of 2025 but at about half their June high. We lined up 17 quarters of Corning’s results to show how fast the shift happened and gathered what the big customer deals commit, which no single release does.
Corning's fiber business in the third quarter of 2026
What we calculated
- Fiber was 46.8% of Corning’s sales in Q3 2026, a high for the 17 quarters since Q3 2022. That is Optical Communications sales divided by core sales of $5,081 million. Core sales are a non-GAAP figure, meaning Corning’s own sales measure outside the standard accounting rules; they equal the sum of its five businesses.
- About 90% of the year’s growth came from fiber: the segment’s $727 million rise divided by the $809 million rise in core sales, Q3 2025 to Q3 2026.
- The rest of Corning grew 3.1%, and fell 1.5% without solar: the other four businesses’ core sales, Q3 2026 against Q3 2025, as reported. Corning did not redo 2025 under its new way of converting foreign sales into dollars.
- Fiber earned 59.6% of segment profit, meaning each business’s net income as Corning reports it. That is $532 million of the $892 million the five businesses earned together, against 39.8% a year earlier.
- Solar added $117 million: its Q3 2026 sales of $436 million minus $319 million a year earlier.
- The other four businesses together earned $360 million, against $446 million a year earlier: the sum of their segment net income, Q3 2026 and Q3 2025.
- Telecommunications was about 72% of Corning’s sales in 2000: $5.1 billion of $7.1 billion, as Corning’s annual report for 2000 states them.
- Fiber sales were 58% larger than glass sales: Optical Communications sales divided by Glass Innovations sales, minus one, Q3 2026.
- A yearly sales pace of about $20.3 billion now and about $21 billion in the fourth quarter: Q3 core sales and Corning’s Q4 forecast range, each times four.
On this page
- How much of Corning is now fiber?
- What Corning fiber does inside AI data centers
- Where Corning’s sales growth came from
- Corning’s Verizon and AT&T deals and what they commit
- Who is paying for Corning’s new fiber plants?
- Is Corning still a glass company?
- Corning earnings and its fourth quarter forecast
- Does Corning pay a dividend?
- How we counted
- Frequently asked questions
How much of Corning is now fiber?
Almost half. Fiber, cable and connectors made up 46.8% of Corning’s sales in the third quarter of 2026, up from 38.7% a year earlier. Corning did not redo 2025 under its new way of converting foreign sales into dollars.
Corning reports this business as Optical Communications. Its quarterly filing describes two halves (second quarter 2026 Form 10-Q). A carrier group sells to the networks behind phone, video and internet service. An enterprise group sells to businesses, including the huge data centers run by cloud and AI companies. In the third quarter the two together sold $2.38 billion, per the results release.
The climb was not a straight line. Fiber was already about 36% of Corning in the third quarter of 2022, per that quarter’s release. A year later optical sales had dropped by about 30% and the share sat at 26.5%, its low point, per the third quarter 2023 release. It has risen in most quarters since, to the highest share in the 17 quarters we lined up.
Show the data
| Category | Fiber share of sales | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2022 | 35.9% | |
| Q4 2022 | 32.9% | |
| Q1 2023 | 33.4% | |
| Q2 2023 | 30.6% | |
| Q3 2023 | 26.5% | Low point: optical sales down about 30% in a year |
| Q4 2023 | 27.6% | |
| Q1 2024 | 28.5% | |
| Q2 2024 | 30.9% | |
| Q3 2024 | 33.4% | |
| Q4 2024 | 35.3% | |
| Q1 2025 | 36.8% | |
| Q2 2025 | 38.7% | |
| Q3 2025 | 38.7% | |
| Q4 2025 | 38.6% | |
| Q1 2026 | 42.5% | |
| Q2 2026 | 43.7% | Corning changes its currency method; earlier quarters not recalculated |
| Q3 2026 | 46.8% |
Corning has leaned this hard on fiber once before. In 2000 its telecommunications business made up about 72% of its sales, by our math from its annual report for 2000. In 2002 that business’s sales fell 63%, per the annual report for 2002. That older business also made networking equipment Corning later left, so the two are not the same business. The history shows how concentrated Corning once was and says nothing about what comes next.
What Corning fiber does inside AI data centers
It carries data between the chips that run AI. Corning’s enterprise fiber sales, which include data centers, grew 84%, and sales of the products it designs for AI more than doubled.
NVIDIA and Corning said in May that modern AI work needs thousands of NVIDIA chips and, with them, unprecedented volumes of optical fiber and connectors (joint release). In that partnership Corning plans to raise its US fiber output by more than 50% and its US connector capacity tenfold.
Corning calls the products sold for this Gen AI products, and they sit in the enterprise group. The release says their sales grew more than 100% from a year earlier. Chief executive Wendell Weeks said Corning doubled them “outpacing GPU unit growth,” meaning faster than the number of AI chips shipped.
Corning does not say how many dollars those products bring in, and it does not split fiber sales between AI and phone networks. So the 46.8% share is fiber of every kind, from home internet lines to AI clusters.
The wider fiber market is tight. TrendForce, a market research firm, estimated on October 19 that the world will be short by 180 million kilometers of fiber this year (TrendForce). It expects shortages to last until at least 2028.
TrendForce put spot prices at 2.8 to 5 times their 2025 levels or more; spot prices are what fiber costs for immediate delivery.
By TrendForce’s estimate, data centers take only about a fifth of fiber demand in 2026. Most fiber still goes into phone and internet networks, and that is where Corning’s biggest phone company deals, covered further down, come in.
Where Corning’s sales growth came from
Mostly from fiber. Corning’s sales rose $809 million from a year earlier, and the fiber business alone added $727 million of it.
Corning called this its strongest growth since Springboard, the sales plan it launched in the fourth quarter of 2023. Take fiber out, though, and the rest of Corning grew just 3.1% from a year earlier, by our count. Solar, whose factories are ramping up more slowly than Corning expected, added $117 million. Outside fiber and solar, Corning’s sales shrank. These comparisons carry a caution: Corning changed how it adjusts for currency swings in April 2026 and did not recalculate 2025 the new way. It says doing so would have shown faster growth, and the largest effect is on the glass business.
Show the data
| Category | Change |
|---|---|
| Optical Communications | +$727M |
| Solar | +$117M |
| Automotive | +$16M |
| Life Sciences and other | +$3M |
| Glass Innovations | -$54M |
The profit picture tilts further. Corning reports a net income for each business, after its own costs and a flat tax rate (restated segment tables). On that measure fiber earned $532 million in the quarter, which was 59.6% of what the five businesses earned together. A year earlier its share was 39.8%.
In our reading, that makes the shift bigger than the sales chart suggests. Fiber’s profit rose 80% while its sales rose 44%, per the release’s segment table, and the other four businesses together earned less than a year ago.
Show the data
| Business | Sales Q3 2026 ($M) | Sales Q3 2025 ($M) | Net income Q3 2026 ($M) | Net income Q3 2025 ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Optical Communications | 2,379 | 1,652 | 532 | 295 |
| Glass Innovations | 1,506 | 1,560 | 328 | 363 |
| Automotive | 470 | 454 | 67 | 68 |
| Solar | 436 | 319 | (7) | 30 |
| Life Sciences and Emerging Growth Businesses | 290 | 287 | (28) | (15) |
| Total (core sales; sum of segment net income) | 5,081 | 4,272 | 892 | 741 |
Source: Corning third quarter 2026 results, segment tables, results release as filed with the SEC, October 27, 2026. Segment net income uses a 21% tax rate for every segment. Totals are our sums.
Corning’s Verizon and AT&T deals and what they commit
They set aside years of fiber. AT&T’s deal is valued at more than $3 billion, and Verizon’s covers more than 80 million miles of fiber delivered from 2027 to 2032.
Corning says it signed four long-term deals worth billions of dollars each in the third quarter, and it named only Verizon and AT&T. Both phone companies tie their deals to home internet first. Verizon says its fiber will help it reach 40 to 50 million homes and businesses and build long distance routes between data centers. It calls the deal “multi-billion dollar” without an exact figure. AT&T ties its deal to a goal of bringing fiber internet to 60 million Americans by the end of 2030.
The data center deals came first. Meta agreed in January to a multiyear deal of up to $6 billion for fiber, cable and connectors (Corning and Meta). In April Corning said two more data center operators had signed deals of similar size and length, and its second quarter release added a multibillion dollar Amazon agreement.
Show the data
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Jan 27, 2026 | Meta signs a multiyear deal of up to $6 billion for fiber, cable and connectors |
| Apr 28, 2026 | Corning says two more data center operators signed deals of similar size and length |
| May 6, 2026 | NVIDIA multiyear partnership: Corning to raise US fiber output by more than 50% |
| Jul 28, 2026 | Corning's Q2 results disclose a multiyear, multibillion dollar Amazon deal for its US data centers |
| Sep 8, 2026 | Verizon reserves more than 80 million miles of fiber for 2027 to 2032 |
| Sep 29, 2026 | AT&T signs a deal valued at more than $3 billion |
What these deals commit is mostly undisclosed. Verizon gives a quantity and a delivery window, but none of the releases states minimum purchases, prices or what happens if a buyer pulls back, and “up to $6 billion” is a ceiling. Corning has not named the two data center operators of April or two of the four third quarter deals.
Who is paying for Corning’s new fiber plants?
Partly its customers. Buyers pay deposits ahead of delivery, and NVIDIA put $500 million into Corning in May.
One mechanism Corning’s filings describe is money paid before delivery. Its second quarter 10-Q says customer deposits let buyers “secure rights to products produced by Corning under long-term supply agreements, typically over periods of up to 10 years.” A customer pays part of the bill early, and Corning has that cash while it builds the factories to supply it.
NVIDIA shows how far that goes. In May it paid Corning $500 million for warrants, which are rights to Corning shares, under the company’s filing of May 6. One warrant also lets it buy up to 15 million shares at $180 each.
The same 10-Q records a $1.0 billion deposit from the customer that received that warrant, which the May 6 filing names as NVIDIA. It sits under a supply deal running to the end of 2029. Corning books part of that deposit against what the warrant is worth, so the amount it records is smaller. Corning’s finance chief Ed Schlesinger said in the release that the company has added capacity “backed by long-term customer agreements that share the cost and risk of expansions.” That means buyers are helping pay for the plants that will make their fiber.
Corning is also spending its own cash. It put $545 million into plants and equipment in the third quarter, against $334 million a year earlier, per its cash flow statement. Weeks said in the release that it is investing “to address demand for our innovations.”
Corning can also raise money from investors. In September it registered a program to sell up to $2 billion of new stock over time through a bank, which is not required to sell any (prospectus supplement).
Debt stood at $8.20 billion on September 30, including the part due within a year, against $2.54 billion of cash, per the balance sheet in the results filing. The prospectus lists capital expenditures, money for new plants and equipment, among the possible uses of what that program raises.
Deposits, NVIDIA’s $500 million, borrowing and the stock program are among the ways Corning can pay for new fiber plants beyond what its own sales bring in. In our reading, customers have put up the most visible money so far, and the results release does not say whether Corning sold any of the new stock.
Is Corning still a glass company?
Yes, but glass is now smaller than fiber, which passed it in 2025. Corning’s glass business sold $1.51 billion in the quarter, 3% less than a year earlier as reported. Corning says recalculating 2025 for its new currency method would show glass doing better.
The glass business, called Glass Innovations since this year, combines display glass for TVs and monitors, cover glass for phones and other devices, and specialty glass. It is still large, and it carries some famous work. In October 2025 Corning said Apple made a “$2.5 billion commitment to make 100% of global iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass in Corning’s Kentucky facility,” in its third quarter 2025 release.
Show the data
| Category | Optical Communications | Glass Innovations | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q1 2024 | $0.93B | $1.33B | |
| Q2 2024 | $1.11B | $1.52B | |
| Q3 2024 | $1.25B | $1.56B | |
| Q4 2024 | $1.37B | $1.49B | |
| Q1 2025 | $1.36B | $1.41B | |
| Q2 2025 | $1.57B | $1.44B | Fiber sales pass glass sales |
| Q3 2025 | $1.65B | $1.56B | |
| Q4 2025 | $1.70B | $1.50B | |
| Q1 2026 | $1.85B | $1.42B | |
| Q2 2026 | $2.07B | $1.46B | Corning changes its currency method; earlier quarters not recalculated |
| Q3 2026 | $2.38B | $1.51B |
The release gives no reason for this quarter’s drop. It says the glass business outperformed “TV unit, notebook, and smartphone markets, which have been impacted by memory pricing.” In plain words, Corning is saying the price of memory chips has weighed on sales of TVs, laptops and phones, the devices its glass goes into. In our reading, part of the 3% drop may also come from Corning’s currency method change, whose largest effect is on glass.
Fiber sales were 58% larger than glass sales in the third quarter, by our count.
Corning earnings and its fourth quarter forecast
Corning beat its own forecast and, per its release, expects about 19% growth again in the fourth quarter. Its core sales were $5.08 billion, a sales measure Corning defines itself, above the top of the range it gave in July.
Corning had forecast $4.9 billion to $5.0 billion for the quarter. Core sales take out currency swings and some one-time items, and under the standard accounting rules, known as GAAP, sales came to $4.86 billion. Earnings per share, the profit for each share, also topped the forecast.
| Measure, Q3 2026 | Forecast in July | Result | Change from Q3 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core sales | $4.9B to $5.0B | $5.08B | +19% |
| Core earnings per share | $0.85 to $0.89 | $0.91 | +36% |
| GAAP sales | not given | $4.86B | +18% |
| GAAP earnings per share | not given | $0.78 | +56% |
Source: Corning second and third quarter 2026 results releases. Fourth quarter forecast: core sales $5.2B to $5.3B, core earnings per share $0.96 to $1.00.
Corning’s May plan set a goal of a $20 billion yearly sales pace by the end of 2026. Four quarters like the third would already come to about $20.3 billion, by our arithmetic. The fourth quarter forecast points to about $21 billion.
The plan’s more ambitious version aims for $40 billion by the end of 2030, with a lower $35 billion version Corning calls high confidence. Both are Corning’s own targets.
Corning shares closed at $127.74 on October 26, per StockTitan’s GLW overview. That was about 46% above their last close of 2025 and about half their highest close of 2026, on June 29. The market had not opened when the results came out.
Does Corning pay a dividend?
Yes. Corning pays $0.28 a share every quarter, and the next payment is due on December 11.
The board declared it on October 6 for shareholders on the books on November 13, per the October 7 announcement. StockTitan’s dividend yield calculator shows what that pays at a given share price. Corning bought back none of its own shares in the first nine months of 2026, against $158 million a year earlier, its cash flow statement in the results filing shows.
Corning had about 871 million shares on average in the quarter, counting those that options and warrants would add, up from 868 million a year earlier, per the same filing. That count could grow if Corning sells new stock under the program described above.
For a company most people know from phone screens, that is the picture this quarter leaves. Fiber now carries Corning’s growth and most of its business profit, and its customers are paying ahead to secure more of it. Corning was this tied to fiber once before, in 2000, as the first section showed.
What to watch
- Whether the third quarter deals carry deposits, and whether Corning sold shares under its $2 billion program: the third quarter Form 10-Q may say. Last year’s was filed on October 31.
- What management says about demand from data centers against phone and internet networks: the October 27 earnings call and its transcript on Corning’s investor site.
- Whether fourth quarter sales land in the $5.2 billion to $5.3 billion range Corning forecast: its fourth quarter release, which last year came out on January 28.
How we counted
Fiber’s share is Optical Communications segment net sales divided by core sales, both from Corning’s quarterly results releases for the third quarter of 2022 through the third quarter of 2026. Core sales equal the sum of the segment sales Corning reports. They are a non-GAAP measure. Through the first quarter of 2026 Corning translated foreign sales at fixed internal rates. From April 2026 it uses its hedge rates, the exchange rates it locked in with currency contracts. It has not recalculated earlier periods, and it says the largest adjustment is for the Japanese yen in the glass business.
On GAAP sales of $4,855 million the Q3 2026 share would be 49.0%, but that mixes a segment figure with a company total measured differently. Optical Communications was unchanged by the 2026 segment recast; 2024 and 2025 glass figures use the recast. Growth shares compare Q3 2026 with Q3 2025 segment by segment. Profit shares use segment net income, which Corning computes with a 21% tax rate for each segment; it does not add up to Corning’s reported net income. The 2000 share is telecommunications sales of $5.1 billion divided by total sales of $7.1 billion, as that report states them. The yearly paces are a quarter’s core sales, or the forecast range, times four.
Frequently asked questions
What is Corning’s dividend per share?
Corning declared a quarterly dividend of $0.28 a share on October 6, 2026, payable December 11 to shareholders on the books on November 13. It repurchased no shares in the first nine months of 2026.
Does Corning make the glass for iPhones?
Corning said in October 2025 that Apple made a $2.5 billion commitment to have all iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass made at Corning’s Kentucky plant. That glass sits in Corning’s Glass Innovations business, which sold $1.51 billion in the third quarter of 2026.
How big is Corning’s deal with AT&T?
AT&T and Corning said on September 29, 2026 that their multiyear fiber and cable agreement is valued at more than $3 billion. Verizon’s agreement, announced September 8, covers more than 80 million miles of fiber from 2027 to 2032 and is described only as multibillion dollar.
What does Corning make for AI data centers?
Corning sells optical fiber, cable and connectors that link servers inside data centers and connect data centers to each other. It says sales of its products for AI more than doubled in the third quarter of 2026, and its enterprise network sales, which include data centers, grew 84%.
What was Corning’s third quarter 2026 revenue?
Corning reported core sales of $5.08 billion, up 19%, a measure it defines itself, and sales under standard accounting rules of $4.86 billion, up 18%. Both are in its October 27, 2026 results, which are on StockTitan’s Corning news page.
Sources
- StockTitan: Corning third quarter 2026 results (October 27, 2026)
- StockTitan: GLW overview
- StockTitan: GLW financials
- StockTitan: Corning second quarter 2026 results (July 28, 2026)
- StockTitan: Corning first quarter 2026 results (April 28, 2026)
- StockTitan: Corning third quarter 2025 results (October 28, 2025)
- StockTitan: Corning third quarter 2023 results (October 24, 2023)
- StockTitan: Corning third quarter 2022 results (October 25, 2022)
- StockTitan: Corning Springboard plan (May 6, 2026)
- StockTitan: NVIDIA and Corning partnership (May 6, 2026)
- StockTitan: Corning and Meta agreement (January 27, 2026)
- StockTitan: Verizon and Corning agreement (September 8, 2026)
- StockTitan: AT&T and Corning agreement (September 29, 2026)
- StockTitan: Corning quarterly dividend (October 7, 2026)
- StockTitan: Corning Gorilla Glass Ceramic 3 (March 2, 2026)
- StockTitan: dividend yield calculator
- Corning: Form 8-K exhibit 99, third quarter 2026 results
- Corning: segment recast for 2024 and 2025
- Corning: Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2026
- Corning: Form 8-K of May 6, 2026 (NVIDIA warrants)
- Corning: prospectus supplement of September 11, 2026
- Corning: annual report for 2000
- Corning: annual report for 2002
- TrendForce: optical fiber prices and supply, October 19, 2026
The information provided in this article is for educational and informational purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice, investment recommendation, or an endorsement of any particular investment strategy. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investors should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions.