By Rob Curran

Corning's fourth-quarter net income rose sharply and the fiber-optic cable maker forecast more torrid growth in the first quarter and beyond as the data-center development bonanza spurs demand for its specialty products.

The Corning, N.Y., specialty glass and fiber optics company posted earnings of $540 million, or 62 cents a share, up from $310 million, or 36 cents a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings were 72 cents a share, edging the average analyst target of 71 cents a share, as per FactSet.

Sales jumped 20% to $4.22 billion. Core sales surged 14% to $4.41 billion, surpassing the average Wall Street target of $4.36 billion.

Corning is seeing voracious demand from AI data centers for its fiber optics and other connection technologies, the backbone of AI computing hardware.

Revenue at Corning's optical communications unit rose 24% to $1.7 billion.

Display revenue slipped 2% to $955 million. Revenue performance at other units, including automotive, was mixed.

Corning's shares surged on Tuesday after reports that it received a contract from Facebook owner Meta Platforms to supply fiber-optic cable for its data-center development plans, a multiyear contract that could yield as much as $6 billion.

For the first quarter, Corning projected core earnings between 66 cents and 70 cents a share. The glass maker forecast first-quarter core sales between $4.2 billion and $4.3 billion.

The company boosted long-term growth projections it dubbed the "Springboard Plan." From a starting point in the fourth quarter of 2023, Corning expects $11 billion in incremental annualized sales by the end of 2028, up from the original $8 billion target. Under this plan, Corning anticipates incremental annualized sales of $6.5 billion by the end of 2026, up from $6 billion previously.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 28, 2026 07:32 ET (12:32 GMT)

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