Corning EVP and Chief Financial Officer Ed Schlesinger, speaking at Citi’s 2025 Global TMT Conference, said the company’s enterprise optical business—primarily focused on AI data centers—has more than doubled since 2023 and is expected to exceed $3 billion in revenue this year. The rapid expansion is driven by GenAI-scale data centers requiring high-density, GPU-to-GPU connectivity. Corning upgraded its four-year optical CAGR target from 25% to 30%, but Schlesinger noted that real-world performance is already surpassing those figures.
In parallel, Corning is scaling its long-haul fiber business to support data center interconnect (DCI) deployments. With hyperscalers spreading infrastructure across multiple regions due to power constraints, Corning sees what Schlesinger described as a “new long-haul network” forming in the U.S. The company began shipping new high-density cables for this use case in Q1 2025 with $25 million in revenue, doubled that figure in Q2, and expects continued acceleration. A major customer is Lumen, which is leveraging existing conduits across U.S. metro hubs while deploying Corning’s compact cables originally designed for intra–data center use.
To maintain margin and manage capex, Corning is using a capital-light model that emphasizes customer-backed investment—such as take-or-pay contracts or pre-funded capacity. The company is expanding connectorization capacity aggressively for its next-gen GenAI-focused fiber products, while taking a more cautious, risk-managed approach to scaling fiber and cable production. Optical communications net income margins are currently in the mid-teens, with a target of 20% as volumes and utilization continue to increase.
- Optical enterprise revenue expected to exceed $3B in 2025, up from $1.3B in 2023
- GenAI clusters and GPU web connectivity driving exponential fiber content per rack
- DCI business (part of carrier segment) ramping fast; $1B+ opportunity by 2030
- Partnership with Lumen enables long-haul fiber upgrades using compact, high-fill cables
- Corning optical margins in mid-teens, targeting 20% net income margin
- Capital strategy includes co-funded assets and demand guarantees to derisk expansion
- Connectorization capacity expanding to meet AI product demand
“Our growth in optical is being driven by scale-out architectures in AI data centers and the need to connect every GPU to every other GPU,” said Ed Schlesinger, EVP and CFO of Corning. “That creates exponential growth in fiber content, both inside and between data centers.”
🌐 Analysis: Corning is executing a well-defined, dual-pronged strategy in optical: scaling enterprise fiber for AI data centers and long-haul fiber for data center interconnect (DCI). The enterprise segment—already growing faster than forecast—benefits from the exponential rise in east-west traffic between GPUs, a key architectural requirement of GenAI clusters. Meanwhile, Corning’s pivot into DCI, validated by its deal with Lumen, addresses the physical sprawl of AI workloads across regional zones driven by power availability and latency needs. This long-haul play is more than incremental; it represents a new, hyperscaler-funded wave of fiber buildout across the U.
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