AT&T CEO John Stankey and Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks discuss their companies’ $3 billion fiber optic deal on “The Claman Countdown.”
AT&T has reached a major fiber supply deal with Corning as the telecom giant prepares its network for the growing demand for data and the growing bandwidth needs of artificial intelligence.
Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks and AT&T Chairman and CEO John Stankey joined FOX Business’ Liz Claman on “The Claman Countdown” to discuss the companies’ $3 billion-plus purchase deal and the future of fiber optic infrastructure.
A Corning fiber technician works in the company’s fiber optic manufacturing plant as AT&T expands its fiber network to meet growing AI and data demands. (Travis Dove for The Washington Post/Getty Images)
Stankey said AT&T is seeing ever-increasing demand for data, including greater growth in traffic moving from customers to the network. He said this change makes fiber optic increasingly important because it can carry the same amount of data upstream and downstream.
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“And it’s a bet for the future, and it’s a bet to be able to… meet the needs of AI in the future,” Stankey said.
The deal is expected to help AT&T exceed its goal of reaching more than 60 million total fiber locations by the end of 2030, while giving the company more certainty around supply and pricing.
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“And that’s actually going to get us over the 60 million mark over the next five years. That’s why we’re doing this deal. We’re getting really stable prices. We’re getting stable supplies, so we know we can hit the target,” Stankey said.
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For Corning, this agreement comes as its North Carolina operations expand to meet long-term customer demand. Weeks said the company has more than 5,000 employees in the state and expects that workforce to grow significantly in the coming years.
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Weeks also said Corning has visibility into committed demand spanning several years as fiber becomes a critical part of broader infrastructure development.
“So we are building both capacity and ability to meet demand from our engaged customers,” Weeks said.
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