Corning (NYSE: GLW) has been one of the most impressive stories in the market this year. The stock had surged close to 80% year to date heading into Tuesday's Q1 2026 earnings report. A simple yet powerful thesis has driven the outperformance this year: as hyperscalers spend hundreds of billions of dollars building the AI data centers of the future, Corning's optical fiber is the backbone that connects them all. Given the industry's outperformance, along with GLW’s, its Q1 2026 earnings report was eagerly anticipated not only by its own investors but also by industry stakeholders.
