Corning Inc., a major materials science company, announced last week it is halting its operations at its distribution facility in Edgecombe County, according to the Triangle Business Journal.

Corning is handing off management of the 780K SF site in the Kingsboro Business Park, located off Highway 64 between Rocky Mount and Tarboro, to Florida-based transportation and logistics company Ryder, the company told TBJ.

In a document it filed with the state of North Carolina, Corning cited a strategic shift in business operations as its reason for leaving Edgecombe County.

Ryder will reportedly distribute products for Corning at the center, the company’s North America life sciences hub. The hub was built specifically for Corning’s operations, comprising 750K SF of warehouse space and 30K SF for offices.

With this move, Corning will lay off more than 120 workers, but they will be offered the chance to join Ryder.

Corning will maintain the lease for the facility, a spokesperson for the company said. Ryder will be responsible for all daily operations starting April 19.

In 2017, when Corning selected North Carolina for a two-county manufacturing expansion, the company committed an $86M investment in Edgecombe County. 

Corning will maintain its strong presence in other parts of the state, including a large facility with more than 1M SF of space in Wilmington at 310 N. College Road, as well as plants in Newton, Concord and Winston-Salem

In January, the company announced a $6B supply agreement with Meta to provide fiber-optic cable for data center development, which would require expanding its manufacturing facility in Hickory, north of Charlotte in Catawba County. When this project is complete, Corning will reportedly have the largest fiber-optic cable plant in the world.

Last year, Corning reported net sales of $15.6B, up 19% from the previous year.

An optical cable dealer will benefit from the surge in data center development with a billion-dollar deal that will expand its North Carolina manufacturing. 

Corning Inc. will boost its optical cable manufacturing presence in North Carolina through a $6B data center deal with Meta Platforms Inc., the Charlotte Business Journal reported.

The multiyear deal, which spans through 2030, aims to provide specialized cable to facilitate data center development for Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. 

Corning CEO and Chairman Wendell P. Weeks said in a press release that the investment will significantly expand the company’s footprint across North Carolina and boost its headcount in the state by 15% to 20%.

“Together with Meta, we’re strengthening domestic supply chains and helping ensure that advanced data centers are built using U.S. innovation and advanced manufacturing,” Weeks said.

In October 2025, Corning announced it would expand at its 378-acre cable plant at the Trivium Corporate Center in Hickory, an hour northwest of Charlotte in Catawba County. When Corning announced the Hickory expansion, it stated investment would total between $170M and $268M.

Corning’s plans will reportedly make its Hickory facility the largest fiber-optic plant in the world.

In addition to the Hickory plant, Corning has manufacturing plants in Newton, Concord, Wilmington and Winston-Salem.

Shares of Corning, which have reportedly risen more than 75% in the past year, rose 16% on Jan. 27th with news of the deal to close to reach a new 52-week high of  $110.

Meta announced in November it would commit to spending $600B on data centers and infrastructure in the U.S. by 2028. 

The company’s two largest data center clusters currently under construction are the 1-gigawatt Prometheus site in Ohio and the 5-gigawatt Hyperion site in Louisiana. Both will feature Corning fiber-optic cable, CNBC reported.