tech
March 5, 2026
Broadcom CEO's copper commitment tanks Corning shares
Shares of Corning and other optical companies are sliding Thursday.
TL;DR
- Corning's shares fell sharply following Broadcom CEO Hock Tan's comments on copper's role in data centers.
- Tan stated Broadcom customers will likely use direct-attached copper for 'scale-up' connections until 2028, but optics are already preferred for 'scale-out'.
- Scale-up refers to short-distance connections within a server rack, while scale-out involves longer distances between racks.
- Corning's own guidance, including its Springboard initiative and statements from its CEO and CFO, does not contradict Tan's timeline and views scale-up optics as potential upside.
- The article suggests the market reaction is an overreaction, as both companies appear aligned on the use of optics for scale-out and the eventual adoption for scale-up.
- Recent strategic partnerships by Nvidia in data-center optics with Lumentum and Coherent are also cited as positive indicators for the optics market.
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