Corning (NYSE:GLW) delivered a double-digit beat for its fourth quarter and full year 2025, proving that the glass-making giant has successfully tethered its future to the artificial intelligence boom.
The company reported fourth-quarter core sales of $4.41 billion, a 14% increase year-over-year, while core earnings per share (EPS) jumped 26% to $0.72.
The results cap off a transformative year for the 175-year-old innovator.
For the full year 2025, Corning saw core sales grow 13% to $16.41 billion and core EPS soar 29% to $2.52.
More impressively, the company’s "Springboard" strategy—a plan launched in 2023 to boost margins and revenue—achieved its 20% operating margin target a full year ahead of schedule.
The primary catalyst for this acceleration is the massive shift from copper to fiber-optic cabling in data centers.
Just yesterday, Corning announced a landmark agreement with Meta Platforms, which will see the social media giant pay Corning up to $6 billion through 2030 to supply the specialized fiber-optic infrastructure required for its massive AI workloads.
"Since we launched Springboard two years ago, we have fundamentally transformed Corning’s financial profile," said Wendell P. Weeks, chairman and CEO.
"We have added billions to our annualized sales run rate and nearly doubled our free cash flow to $1.72 billion for the year. We now have a highly profitable launch point for the next phase of our growth."
Corning’s management is so confident in this trajectory that they significantly upgraded the long-term Springboard targets.
The company now expects to add $11 billion in incremental annualized sales by the end of 2028, up from the previous goal of $8 billion.
Of that, $5.75 billion is considered "high-confidence" sales that will be in place by the end of 2026.
Looking ahead to the first quarter of 2026, Corning expects growth to accelerate further.
Management is guiding for core sales of $4.2 billion to $4.3 billion (up 15%) and core EPS in the range of $0.66 to $0.70.