Corning says it is confident that it can be a big player in the data center market segment, particularly for the “hyperscaler scale up" segment, due to the ongoing growth of AI by hyperscalers.
The "hyperscaler scale up" refers to the strategies massive cloud providers use to increase the power of individual computer systems to handle intensive, resource-heavy workloads. Vertical scaling increases a system's capacity by adding resources like CPU, memory, and storage to a single server.
Speaking to investors during its third-quarter earnings call, Wendell Weeks, CEO of Corning, said that it is positioned to take advantage of hyperscalers’ need to convert copper links to fiber to accommodate accelerating AI GPU workloads.
As hyperscalers scale up, AI nodes are shifting to stretch across multiple server racks, which causes the distance to link these GPUs within the node to get longer,” he said. “This will eventually cause the links to reach about 100 Gbps per meter on what we call the electrical to optical frontier line, which roughly marks the point where fiber connections become more techno-economical than copper, creating a large potential opportunity for us.”
As it pursues more opportunities in the scale-up market, Corning is enhancing its investments in co-packaged optics. The vendor has struck partnerships with Broadcom and, more recently, GlobalFoundries.
Corning will supply cutting-edge optical components for Broadcom’s Bailly CPO system, the industry’s first CPO-based 51.2 Tbps Ethernet switch.
GlobalFoundries will combine its silicon photonics platform that supports CPO solutions for scale-out and scale-up networks with Corning’s chain and leadership in optical interconnect technologies.
“Co-packaged optics is one of the technologies that helps activate this scale-up opportunity for us,” Weeks said. “If we succeed technically, the scale-up opportunity could be 2x to 3x the size of our existing enterprise business. And we are working with key customers and partners on making that future a reality as well.”
Data center interconnect rising
As Corning moves forward with its data center plans, the vendor is also hot on the trail of pursuing data center interconnect (DCI).
Earlier this year, Corning launched its GlassWorks AI™ solutions, a set of customized data center products and services. GlassWorks AI, including its Contour ™ Flow Cable, accelerates and simplifies deployments of interconnected data center networks by fitting double the fiber into existing cable diameters.
“We expect this business to scale rapidly, reaching $1 billion opportunity for us by the end of the decade,” Weeks said.
But these new products are only one part of the total package for DCI.
Another major development for Corning in the DCI space is the emerging hollow core fiber (HCF) market. Corning has announced a partnership with Microsoft to accelerate the production of the company’s HCF products. Microsoft’s HCF will be produced out of Corning’s cable manufacturing facilities in North Carolina.
“With Hollow Core technology, we're talking about cases where the difference between the speed of light through glass and the speed of light through air actually matters,” Weeks said. “This illustrates how important DCI could become as our customers look to decrease their latency.”
