Nvidia invested in Corning, continuing the chip giant's optical spending spree.

The pair struck a “multiyear commercial and technology partnership” that will see Corning expand U.S.-based manufacturing of its optical solutions. No financial details were disclosed, though industry reports conflict as to the exact investment amount, with numbers floated from $300 million to $500 million.

The undisclosed figure is earmarked for significantly expanding Corning's manufacturing capabilities, specifically allowing for it to increase its optical connectivity production tenfold and boost its fiber production capacity by more than 50%. This includes plans for three new manufacturing facilities in North Carolina and Texas.

“[Nvidia]’s commitment is directly fueling the expansion of our U.S. manufacturing footprint and creating more than 3,000 new high-paying jobs for American workers,” Corning CEO Wendell Weeks noted. “This partnership is proof that AI is not just a technology story. It is a manufacturing story, and it is happening here in the U.S.”

The announcement is somewhat vague as to exactly what Corning will actually be supplying, simply stating: “Corning’s expanded capacity will supply the optical connectivity hyperscale data centers use to deploy Nvidia-accelerated computing at scale.”

Nvidia is snapping up optics left and right as it edges closer to launching co-packed optic (CPO) versions of its Spectrum-X Ethernet and InfiniBand-based Quantum-X networking switches later this year, with the hardware currently in “full production.”

Corning's CPO Director Benoit Fleury in an interview with SDxCentral last year explained that the fiber provider is among the optics suppliers integrating CPO into those chip platforms, though it’s also supporting Broadcom’s third-generation CPO systems. And around the time of GTC this year, Corning unveiled multicore fiber offerings focused on boosting network density in AI data centers.

“Together with Nvidia, we are ensuring the critical technologies powering AI are invented, engineered, and built in America,” Weeks added.

More Nvidia supply chain antics

For Nvidia, the partnership marks the latest in an ever-growing list of supply chain-centric investments.

The likes of Finisar parent Coherent, Lumentum, Ayar Labs, and Marvell have all received sizable backing from the chip giant as it aggressively shores up its supply chain amid existing component issues with central processing units (CPUs), memory hardware, electro-absorption modulated lasers, and helium.

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang detailed the company’s all-encompassing supply chain evaluation during its recent GTC event, saying he was “constantly just looking across the entire life cycle of the technology and manufacturing across the supply chain” to “prepare our company for growth.”

“So we work with the supply chain to make sure that we can help them build up the capacity in advance," Huang said back in March. "Sometimes we give them [a] prepayment. Sometimes we just give them a forecast. Sometimes, if the technology is in capacity or is quite light but needs to be much, much greater, we might decide to invest in the company and provide all of the other things as well. We did that with Coherent, Lumentum, etc."

Huang in commenting on the latest investment stated: "Together with Corning, we are inventing the future of computing with advanced optical technologies – building the foundation for AI infrastructure where intelligence moves at the speed of light while advancing the proud tradition of made in America.”

There is a slight caveat to the rapid reshoring, with the Trump administration having previously threatened hefty tariffs on Southeast Asian semiconductor manufacturing hubs.

In the months since, Nokia, Apple, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), and Nvidia itself have pledged to manufacture products in the U.S. Just this week, India's Sterlite Technologies Ltd. (STL) unveiled plans to boost U.S. manufacturing through a $100 million investment.

There have been some exceptions, though, with Arista Networks pressing on with its $1 billion expansion into India.