CORNING, N.Y., Feb. 7 -- Corning Inc. said that its board of directors has approved a plan to invest about $400 million to build its sixth optical fiber manufacturing facility, in Oklahoma City, Okla. Initial fiber production is expected in 2004. When fully operational, the plant will employ several hundred people.
Optical fiber is the foundation of our optical layer strategy and a key enabler for driving down the cost of bandwidth, said John Loose, CEO of Corning. We continue to believe that the demand for optical fiber worldwide remains robust and are investing accordingly.
This follows a December 7, 2000 Corning announcement to invest $450 million to further expand its Concord, N.C., fiber manufacturing facility, soon to be the largest fiber plant in the world. Corning plans to increase its fiber manufacturing capacity by 25 percent per year from 2002 through 2004.