Shares of Corning (GLW) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surged to new highs on Monday, reflecting a growing investor belief that the artificial intelligence boom is expanding beyond graphics processors into a wider range of hardware components. Corning gained over 10% to a 52-week high of $208.34, driven by a Bank of America upgrade to its 'US 1 List' and a multiyear partnership with Nvidia to scale U.S. manufacturing for optical connectivity used in AI data centers. AMD climbed 0.79% to $458.79, also reaching a 52-week peak, as analysts pointed to a server CPU supercycle fueled by AI workloads.
The Corning–Nvidia deal, announced May 6, aims to increase domestic optical connectivity capacity tenfold and fiber production by more than 50%, with three new facilities in North Carolina and Texas creating over 3,000 jobs. Corning also upgraded its Springboard growth plan, now targeting $30 billion in annualized sales by 2028 and $40 billion by 2030. AMD benefited from a GF Securities report forecasting the server CPU market to grow from $26 billion in 2025 to $135 billion by 2030, a 38% CAGR, as AI shifts from training to inference and agentic applications. AMD's data-center business became its primary revenue driver, with CEO Lisa Su projecting 35% server CPU growth over the next three to five years.
Wall Street analysts reinforced the optimism: Oppenheimer raised Corning’s price target to $210, Mizuho to $220, and multiple firms upgraded AMD after its earnings beat. Some caution persists—BTIG warned of a potential 25-30% sector correction—but the broader trend suggests AI infrastructure spending is rotating into CPUs, memory, networking, and optical technologies, benefiting companies beyond Nvidia.
