Corning Celebrates 40 Years in Wilmington

Corning Celebrates 40 Years in Wilmington

October 08, 2006

Wilmington Plant Was The World's First Optical Fiber Manufacturing Facility

    CORNING, N.Y., Oct. 8 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- On October
6, 2006, Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW), which invented
the first low-loss optical fiber for telecommunications,
celebrated the 40th anniversary of its Wilmington, N.C.,
manufacturing facility. Corning's Wilmington plant was the
world's first optical fiber manufacturing facility and
today has the largest optical fiber manufacturing capacity
in the industry. 

    "Our employees and this community should take
pride in the role they played in launching the age of
optical communications by providing the world with the
first optical fiber for telecommunications," said
Thomas Nettleman, division vice president and plant manager
of Corning's Wilmington plant. "Over the last few
decades, the Wilmington plant has produced tens of millions
of kilometers of fiber which is deployed in networks around
the world. Today, Corning remains the worldwide industry
leader in optical fiber." 

    Corning built the Wilmington plant in 1966 to
manufacture resistors, an electronic component. In 1970,
Corning invented the world's first low-loss optical fiber
in its research and development laboratory near Corning,
N.Y. After further development of optical fiber technology,
Corning installed the first optical fiber manufacturing
equipment in its Wilmington plant in 1978 and began
relocating the resistors business to a Corning facility in
Bradford, Penn. Wilmington began manufacturing optical
fiber in 1979 and the plant underwent several expansions in
the 1980s and 1990s. In 2001 and 2002, during the
telecommunications downturn, Corning consolidated its
worldwide optical fiber manufacturing to Wilmington. 

    Today, Corning is the only remaining U.S.-owned optical
fiber manufacturer. Wilmington employs several hundred
employees and manufactures a full portfolio of fiber
products to meet the demands of different network
applications from the desktop to the ocean. 

    About Corning Incorporated

    Corning Incorporated ( http://www.corning.com ) is a
diversified technology company that concentrates its
efforts on high-impact growth opportunities. Corning
combines its expertise in specialty glass, ceramic
materials, polymers and the manipulation of the properties
of light, with strong process and manufacturing
capabilities to develop, engineer and commercialize
significant innovative products for the telecommunications,
flat panel display, environmental, semiconductor, and life
sciences industries.

    For more information, please contact:

    Corning China
     Lydia Lu
     Tel:   [phone] x1900
     Email: [e-mail]

    US Corning
     Monica L. Ott
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  Corning Incorporated