Corning sees second-quarter core sales above estimates as AI boom aids demand

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(Reuters) -Corning forecast second-quarter core sales above Wall Street expectations on Tuesday, aided by strong demand for its optical connectivity products used in AI-related infrastructure.

Shares of the company, which also makes Gorilla Glass, rose more than 1% in premarket trading.

Corning’s cables and connectors are benefiting from businesses pouring money into new data center projects, which require equipment that can rapidly process data to train artificial intelligence models.

“In optical communications, sales in our enterprise business were up 106% year over year on continued strong demand for our new products for Gen AI,” said Corning CEO Wendell Weeks.

Telecom companies’ push to expand their 5G networks to cater to more users has also driven up demand for Corning’s optic fiber products.

Corning is also a major supplier of glass for Apple’s products and could stand to benefit from the iPhone maker’s plans to invest $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.

The specialty glass maker forecast second-quarter core sales of around $3.85 billion, compared with estimates of $3.82 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company expects second-quarter adjusted earnings per share in a range of between 55 cents and 59 cents per share, compared with estimates of 56 cents.

It reported first-quarter core sales of $3.68 billion, beating estimates of $3.64 billion.

On an adjusted basis, the company earned 54 cents per share, compared with estimates of 51 cents.

(Reporting by Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)