Nvidia and Corning have partnered to build three new advanced manufacturing facilities dedicated to optical technologies for Nvidia's semiconductor company. The factories will create at least 3,000 jobs and increase Corning's U.S. optical manufacturing capacity by tenfold.
The deal gives Nvidia the right to invest up to $3.2 billion in Corning and includes warrants to buy up to 15 million shares of Corning stock. The partnership aims to replace copper with Corning's optical glass fibers in Nvidia's AI rack-scale systems, an integration known as co-packaged optics.
Corning's CEO Wendell Weeks said the deal will bring together two infrastructure players that have seen their fortunes skyrocket since the launch of OpenAI's ChatGPT. The partnership promises to vastly increase the speed of data transfers and lower the energy needs for AI workloads.
Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang called co-packaged optics essential for the AI build-out, saying it will bring intelligence to the speed of light while advancing American manufacturing and supply chains.