Business Segments | About Us | Corning

Corning Incorporated is a leading innovator in materials science. For more than 165 years, Corning has combined its unparalleled expertise in glass science, ceramic science, and optical physics with deep manufacturing and engineering capabilities to develop category-defining products that transform industries and enhance people’s lives. We succeed through sustained investment in research and development, a unique combination of material and process innovation, and deep, trust-based relationships with customers who are global leaders in their industries.

Corning’s capabilities are versatile and synergistic, which allows the company to evolve to meet changing market needs, while also helping our customers capture new opportunities in dynamic industries.

Corning’s Display Technologies segment manufactures glass substrates for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) that are used primarily in LCD televisions, notebook computers, and flat panel desktop monitors.

This segment develops, manufactures, and supplies high-quality glass substrates using technology expertise and a proprietary fusion manufacturing process, which Corning invented and is the cornerstone of the company’s technology leadership in the LCD glass industry. The highly automated process yields glass substrates with a pristine surface, excellent thermal dimensional stability, and uniformity – essential attributes for the production of large, high performance LCDs panels. Corning’s fusion process is scalable and we believe it is the most cost-effective process in producing large-size substrates.

We are recognized for providing product innovations that enable our customers to produce larger, lighter, thinner and higher-resolution displays.

Corning invented the world’s first low-loss optical fiber in 1970. Since that milestone, we have continued to pioneer optical fiber, cable, and connectivity solutions.

As global bandwidth demand driven by video usage grows exponentially, telecommunications networks continue to migrate from copper to optical-based systems that can deliver the required cost-effective bandwidth-carrying capacity. Our experience puts us in a unique position to design and deliver optical solutions that reach every edge of the communications network.

This segment is classified into two main product groupings – carrier network and enterprise network. The carrier network group consists primarily of products and solutions for optical-based communications infrastructure for services such as video, data, and voice communications. The enterprise network group consists primarily of optical-based communication networks sold to businesses, governments, and individuals for their own use.

Corning’s Environmental Technologies segment manufactures ceramic substrates and filter products for emissions control in mobile applications around the world.

In the early 1970s, Corning developed an economical, high-performance cellular ceramic substrate that is now the standard for catalytic converters in vehicles worldwide. As global emissions control regulations tighten, Corning has continued to develop more effective and durable ceramic substrate and filter products for gasoline and diesel applications. For example, in response to the growing popularity of gasoline direct injection engines, Corning introduced gasoline particulate filters to help automakers reduce particulate emissions generated by these engines.

Corning manufactures substrate and filter products in New York, Virginia, China, Germany and South Africa. Corning sells its ceramic substrate and filter products worldwide to catalyzers and manufacturers of emission control systems who then sell to automotive and diesel vehicle or engine manufacturers. Although most sales are made to the emission control systems manufacturers, the use of Corning substrates and filters is generally required by the specifications of the automotive and diesel vehicle or engine manufacturers.

The Specialty Materials segment manufactures products that provide more than 150 material formulations for glass, glass ceramics and fluoride crystals to meet demand for unique customer needs. Consequently, this segment operates in a wide variety of commercial and industrial markets that include display optics and components, semiconductor optics components, aerospace and defense, astronomy, ophthalmic products, telecommunications components, and cover glass that is optimized for display devices. 

Our cover glass, known as Corning® Gorilla® Glass, is a thin sheet glass designed specifically to function as a cover glass for display devices such as mobile phones, tablets and notebook PCs. Elegant and lightweight, Corning Gorilla Glass is durable enough to resist many real-world events that commonly cause glass failure, enabling exciting new applications in technology and design. In 2018, Corning unveiled its latest Corning Gorilla Glass innovation, Corning® Gorilla® Glass 6, which is designed to provide further protection against breakage while maintaining optical clarity, touch sensitivity, and damage resistance. Corning Gorilla Glass is manufactured in Kentucky, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan.

Semiconductor optics manufactured by Corning includes high-performance optical material products, optical-based metrology instruments, and optical assemblies for applications in the global semiconductor industry. Corning’s semiconductor optics products are manufactured in New York.

Other specialty glass products include glass lens and window components and assemblies and are made in New York, New Hampshire and France, and sourced from China.

As a leading developer, manufacturer, and global supplier of laboratory products for over 100 years, Corning’s Life Sciences segment works with researchers and drug manufacturers seeking to increase efficiencies, reduce costs, and compress timelines. Using unique expertise in the fields of materials science, polymer surface science, cell culture, and biology, the segment provides innovative solutions that improve productivity and enable breakthrough research.

Life Sciences products include consumables (such as plastic vessels, specialty surfaces, cell culture media and serum), as well as general labware and equipment, that are used for advanced cell culture research, bioprocessing, genomics, drug discovery, microbiology and chemistry. Corning sells life sciences products under these primary brands: Corning, Falcon, Pyrex, Axygen, and Gosselin.

The products are marketed globally, primarily through distributors, to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, academic institutions, hospitals, government entities, and other facilities. Corning manufactures these products in the United States in Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia and outside of the U.S. in China, France, Mexico and Poland.