Corning forecasts upbeat quarterly core sales on AI-driven demand

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(Reuters) -Specialty glass maker Corning forecast third-quarter core sales above Wall Street estimates on Tuesday, led by artificial intelligence-driven demand for its optical connectivity products.

Shares of the company rose about 6% in premarket trading.

AI has been a growth driver for Corning’s products, such as cables and connectors, which are increasingly used by hyperscale data centers to support the massive computing and data transmission demands.

“We also expect an additional growth driver to emerge in the coming months, as new and existing customers seek to leverage our large U.S. advanced manufacturing footprint,” CEO Wendell Weeks said.

Based in New York, Corning also sells a break-resistant Gorilla Glass for mobile phones, tablets and smart watches, and has produced durable glass with infused color for the back of Apple’s iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Plus devices.

Earlier this month, EU antitrust regulators accepted Corning’s offer to waive exclusive deals with mobile phone makers and glass processing companies and scrap purchasing clauses to end an eight-month-long investigation and stave off a possible fine.

Corning’s largest unit – Optical communications – reported net sales of $1.57 billion in the second quarter, a rise of 41% from a year ago.

Its core sales in the quarter rose 12% to $4.05 billion, compared with estimates of $3.86 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Corning expects third-quarter core sales to be around $4.2 billion, beating estimates of $4.01 billion.

The company expects quarterly core earnings per share between 63 cents and 67 cents, compared with estimates of 61 cents.

(Reporting by Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)