Trade Whisperer
Memory Engineer & Data Scientist, Founder of Blue Pink Candles
Corning keeps adding anchor customers for AI fiber, now with a multibillion-dollar supply agreement with Amazon. It follows a $6B multiyear Meta deal funding a major capacity expansion at its Hickory, North Carolina cable plant, and a $500M agreement with Nvidia in May to expand domestic production of the optical connectivity products AI infrastructure needs. x.comÂ
Meta's unmet AI demand pays its bottleneck suppliers. Super Micro's $19.5B quarterly outlook and under 8x forward earnings point to a double. CoreWeave's Meta deals total $35.2B; it should easily top $100. Builders say nearly all new sites use Dell or Super Micro; Dell could easily double. Micron's demand is off the charts at 5x forward earnings. Sources say Vertiv's gear is sold out for 2-3 years. VivoPower has 2GW+ potential in 5-7 years. Digi Power X has a $1.1B Cerebras deal. x.com x.com … Show more
Corning's optics business looks ready for a comeback as its fiber and high-density optical connectivity move data across massive AI GPU clusters. Optical sales rose 32% year over year to $2.07 billion, EPS is expected to more than triple by 2028, and the business is backed by major AI infrastructure deals with NVIDIA, Meta and Amazon. x.comÂ
Corning is a structural loser from orbital AI data centers, because compute migrating from fiber-intensive terrestrial data centers to zero-fiber orbital ones reduces fiber demand. In vacuum, satellites link by free-space lasers rather than fiber, so Corning's hyperscale data center fiber business faces a long-term headwind. It is not a short, since 5G and fiber-to-the-home provide other drivers, but the exponential AI-fiber narrative weakens materially. x.comÂ
Prepaid fiber orders make 2027-28 demand a stronger signal than capex plans. Corning reports $639M in net customer deposits in the first nine months and expects data-center interconnect to beat its former $1B-by-2030 target on timing and size. That backs Lumen's intercity build, though its next allocation may require a bigger commitment. Tight Corning supply gives Amphenol room to gain share until capacity expands; strong demand alone has not lifted stocks across the chain. x.comÂ
Corning's buyer list is the signal: Amazon, Meta and Nvidia, which compete on everything, all funded the same supplier within six months, agreeing that the glass gets bought. Per @VistaSharesX, Amazon just paid Corning billions to wire its AI data centers, after Meta committed up to $6B in January and Nvidia up to $3.2B in May. Owning the fiber wiring underneath every AI model means not having to pick which model or chip wins. x.comÂ
Corning has an entrenched moat and remains a decent business, but holding off on buying it has been vindicated by the stock's recent drop. Unlike hot AI stocks whose position in five years is uncertain, it is not going anywhere. @EricJhonsa notes that at 32x 2027 EPS, with estimates likely too low, it is no longer crazy but not cheap, with smartphones and TVs his main concerns. x.com x.comÂ
Corning is moving higher in its channel on AI demand. It has an Nvidia investment, strong Q1 results and a multi-year deal with Meta worth up to $6B. x.comÂ
AI suppliers' profits and signed demand distinguish this buildout from dotcom overcapacity. AI leaders rose 2.9x on 3.1x earnings growth versus 7.4x on 2.1x before 2000; cloud providers have $2.3T in signed backlog. Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta could repay debt with about six months' cash flow, unlike 2008's leveraged banks. Micron has multiyear take-or-pay deals and ASML has orders years ahead. Memory profits are cyclical; TSMC, ASML and GE Vernova remain favored in AI's early innings. … Show more
Corning's $2B at-the-market facility with Goldman Sachs is an option to sell stock, not a raise, so Friday's after-hours drop priced dilution that may never happen. The 8-K says sales may be limited, depend on market conditions and capital needs, and fund general corporate purposes with no named project. Notably, Corning arranged it while its new revenue stream has not started; its CEO said scale-up and photonics are not yet in results. The next 10-Q will show whether the share count moves. … Show more
Corning remains a long-term AI infrastructure winner even after Morgan Stanley's cooling note, as demand for fiber, optical materials and future glass substrates keeps growing. Per Morgan Stanley, the roughly 40% one-month rally outran fundamentals, driven by Fujikura's raised outlook, the GlassBridge fiber-to-chip platform, Nvidia long-haul fiber rumors and short covering, and high Q2 expectations could add volatility. GlassBridge gives Corning more room in next-generation optical links. x.comÂ