One Billionth Kilometer of Optical Fiber | Corning

Corning Incorporated announced a significant milestone – delivering its 1 billionth kilometer of optical fiber. The company celebrated with an event on September 28, 2017, at its optical fiber manufacturing facility in Wilmington, North Carolina, the world’s first optical fiber manufacturing facility which today remains one of the world’s largest.

Corning invented the first low-loss optical fiber in 1970, which helped launch the age of optical communications and ultimately transformed the way the world creates, shares, and consumes information. Since that time, Corning optical fiber has been deployed in hundreds of thousands of networks across the globe, from long-haul and submarine networks to access networks and data centers. 

“The invention of optical fiber ushered in a communications revolution,” said Wendell P. Weeks, Corning’s chairman, chief executive officer, and president. “This life-changing innovation began with a group of people who had the audacity to believe it was possible to transmit a beam of light down a hair-thin strand of silica with minimal signal loss.” 

Today, Corning remains the worldwide market leader and is the most widely deployed brand of fiber. Through continued fiber innovation and deep customer relationships, Corning reached the 1-billion-kilometer milestone. Keeping its focus on the future, the company will continue to invest in its optical communications business to retain its industry leadership position.

“Today, we continue to transform the way the world connects with ongoing fiber innovations and end-to-end optical solutions,” Weeks added. “In fact, I believe we’re just getting started.”