Fiber-optic cable maker Corning beat estimates, but investors still have the DeepSeek scaries
Corning Inc. beat Wall Street estimates for its final quarter of 2024, in large part because of higher demand for its fiber-optic cables used to build data centers.
The company is a vital node in the AI supply chain: it sells materials needed for data centers, which are needed to power the generative artificial intelligence products. That specific segment, its “Optical Communications Enterprise” business, saw sales grow 93% year over year, Corning reported Thursday.
The company reported a core net income of $497 million for the last three months, which is a 47% increase compared to the same period last year and more than the $482.7 million analysts polled by FactSet expected.
Despite beating expectations, Corning’s share price reversed early gains of as much as 8% to fall nearly 2% Thursday morning, and is down 6.7% over the past week.
Over the weekend, AI investors were spooked by DeepSeek, a Chinese startup that appeared to prove that generative AI can be done more efficiently.
That could be bad news for companies like Corning or Nvidia, which have seen their sales grow from the emergence of the resource-intensive technology. If it’s true that generative AI requires fewer resources, that could mean fewer data centers, fewer chips, and fewer fiber-optic cables.
That is, unless, the Jevons Parodox prevails.
Despite beating expectations, Corning’s share price reversed early gains of as much as 8% to fall nearly 2% Thursday morning, and is down 6.7% over the past week.
Over the weekend, AI investors were spooked by DeepSeek, a Chinese startup that appeared to prove that generative AI can be done more efficiently.
That could be bad news for companies like Corning or Nvidia, which have seen their sales grow from the emergence of the resource-intensive technology. If it’s true that generative AI requires fewer resources, that could mean fewer data centers, fewer chips, and fewer fiber-optic cables.
That is, unless, the Jevons Parodox prevails.
