Corning plans to build a new optical cable manufacturing plant in Arizona as the U.S. government moves to award $42 billion to expand broadband to millions of unserved Americans.
The factory in Gilbert, Arizona, expected to open in 2024, will help supply AT&T, the largest U.S. fiber internet provider, Reuters news report said.
AT&T in August said its fiber network is on pace to cover more than 30 million locations by the end of 2025.
Corning CEO Wendell Weeks said the factory was the latest in a series of investments the company has made in fiber and cable making totaling more than $500 million since 2020 to nearly double Corning’s supply capacity and followed extensive talks with AT&T about its demand.
The Arizona plant will employ about 250 people and is built to expand if demand warrants.
5G wireless networks, fiber deployment to households, cloud computing and the government’s broadband investment plans are driving rising fiber demand.
The Arizona plant follows Corning’s September 2021 announcement it would invest $150 million in optical cable manufacturing in North Carolina.
AT&T said it would expand fiber-based broadband to more than 100,000 homes in Arizona’s fast-growing areas of Mesa.
“Ultimately everything is moving to one fiber-fed infrastructure to be able to deal with the demand equation,” said AT&T CEO John Stankey.
Stankey said traffic is expected to grow five times its current level over the next five years.
As part of a $1 trillion infrastructure bill passed in November 2021, Congress set aside $42.5 billion for grants for states to expand broadband infrastructure. There are 15 to 18 million U.S. households estimated to lack access to high-speed internet, according to government and industry estimates.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said she had been meeting with telecom and manufacturing CEOs to ensure adequate capacity to expand broadband service.
