CommScope and Corning are investing a combined nearly $550 million and creating hundreds of new jobs to build fiber optic cables that will help close the digital divide. The two companies recently joined US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo in Catawba County to celebrate the investments and partnerships.
“We have a tremendous opportunity not just to close the digital divide for millions of Americans, but also to revitalize domestic manufacturing industry, make more products and technologies in America, and create good manufacturing jobs here in Hickory and across the country,” Secretary Raimondo said.
CommScope announced an additional $47 million investment towards expanding its U.S. fiber optic cable manufacturing, including its facility in Catawba, which is already the largest hybrid-fiber-coaxial facility for broadband networks in the world. According to CommScope, this facility will produce a new rural fiber optic cable that is specifically designed for rural areas.
According to CommScope, this investment will create more than 250 new jobs over next five years and the ability to provide service to more than 500,000 homes per year.
Corning announced the expansion of its U.S. manufacturing capacity with the recent opening of its manufacturing campus near Hickory. It builds on the more than $500 million that Corning has invested in fiber and cable manufacturing since 2020. This investment will also add hundreds of manufacturing jobs to Corning’s more than 5,000 employees in the state
The company has also formed a partnership with NTCA – The Rural Broadband Association – to dedicate a portion of the cable manufactured at its facility to small, rural providers and co-ops that will connect Americans across the country.
Both announcements stem from the Biden-Harris Administration’s $65 billion Internet for All initiative and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which requires the use of Made-in-America materials and products for federally funded infrastructure projects including high-speed Internet deployment in America.
Read more about both announcements here.
Photos Courtesy of N.C. Department of Commerce
