Corning's Centralized R&D Allows It to Gain a Cost Advantage in Its Core Markets

Corning is a global leader in materials science, specializing in the manufacture of glass substrates for televisions, notebooks, mobile devices, and wearables, optical fiber for broadband networks and data centers, ceramics substrates and filters for catalytic converters, and pharmaceutical glass. In the firm’s 170 years of operation, it has constantly innovated (including inventing glass optical fiber and ceramic substrates for catalytic converters) and oriented itself toward evolving demand trends it can serve through its core competency of materials science. Most recently, we’d point to Corning’s domination of the smartphone cover glass market and deals with U.S. network carriers to supply fiber for 5G buildouts as evidence of the firm pivoting toward growth.