According to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, data center operators could spend up to $4 trillion annually on upgrading their infrastructure to meet demand from artificial intelligence (AI) developers by 2030. As the supplier of the world's best chips for AI workloads, his company will benefit significantly from that spending, but so will a long list of other suppliers of chips, components, and equipment.
Corning (GLW +0.95%) is one of them, and it often flies under the radar in the AI space. The company is best known for supplying the glass for Apple's iPhone since 2007, but its fiber optic cables for data centers are helping AI developers move information between chips and devices much faster than traditional copper solutions.
Corning stock soared by 84% in 2025, crushing Nvidia stock, which climbed by a still-respectable 39%. The company is scheduled to report its operating results for the fourth quarter (ended Dec. 31) on Jan. 28, and they are likely to cap off the strongest year in its history. More importantly, investors will get a first look at management's guidance for 2026, which could dictate the direction of the stock from here.
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The transition from copper to fiber will transform Corning's business
AI development requires a substantial amount of computing power, which is why most of it happens in large data centers filled with thousands of specialized chips and components. Graphics processing units (GPUs) are the primary chips used in AI workloads, and they are supported by other hardware like central processing units (CPUs), high-bandwidth memory, storage chips, and more.
Data needs to travel between those chips and components as quickly as possible to unlock maximum performance from each GPU. Fiber optic cables are known for their ability to move information at much faster speeds, and over much further distances than their copper counterparts, and with minimal data loss.
Right now, a typical Nvidia NV-Link node uses around 2 miles of copper cable to connect 72 GPUs with the other components in the stack, but Corning says data center operators are quickly transitioning to fiber instead. Plus, as every new generation of AI software grows hungrier for computing capacity than the last, nodes are gradually getting bigger, which means more GPUs and significantly more cabling.
That's why Corning CEO Wendell Weeks believes the market for data center fiber could double or even triple in size from here, creating an unprecedented opportunity for the company.
Corning's Q4 report will cap off its strongest year ever
Corning generated $12 billion in core revenue during the first three quarters of 2025 (ended Sept. 30), which was a 13% increase from the year-ago period. Its optical communications segment accounted for $4.57 billion of that revenue, and it grew at a much faster pace of 39%, fueled by AI-related demand.
In fact, during the third quarter of 2025, enterprise optical communications revenue (which is specifically more AI-focused) soared by a whopping 58%.
NYSE: GLW
Key Data Points
Corning will report its fourth-quarter operating results on Jan. 28, and management's guidance points to $4.35 billion in core revenue. It would take the company's core revenue to $16.3 billion for the whole of 2025, representing a 13% increase from the prior year. That would be a notable acceleration from the 7% growth that Corning produced in 2024, which truly highlights its AI-driven momentum.
Jan. 28 will also give investors their first look at management's guidance for 2026. Wall Street's consensus estimate (provided by Yahoo! Finance) suggests Corning's total revenue could grow by around 13% to $18.4 billion this year, but I won't be surprised if the company does even better on the back of strong demand for data center fiber.
Corning stock looks attractive compared to its peers
Corning produced adjusted (non-GAAP) earnings of $2.38 per share over the last four quarters, giving its stock a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 39.5. Therefore, it's cheaper than Nvidia, which trades at a P/E ratio of 45.9. It's also much cheaper than another major semiconductor equipment supplier, Broadcom, which trades at a P/E ratio of 51.5.
Wall Street's consensus forecast suggests Corning's earnings will grow to $3.09 per share in 2026, placing its stock at a forward P/E ratio of just 30.5. That means its stock would have to climb by 29.5% by the end of this year just to maintain its current P/E ratio of 39.5.
Surging demand for fiber optic cables is giving Corning incredible pricing power, so its optical communications business is highly profitable right now. In fact, the segment's net income soared by 69% year over year during the third quarter, and it accounted for half of the company's total net income. If this momentum continues, it's possible that Corning's earnings will come in even higher than anticipated this year, which could be a recipe for an even better return in its stock.
