CORNING, N.Y., June 11 -- Corning Inc. is delaying the construction schedule of its previously announced Oklahoma City, Okla., optical fiber manufacturing facility. In addition, Corning is slowing the rate of expansion to its Concord, N.C., plant. The company said the adjustments are necessary to pace its growth in manufacturing capacity and rate of capital spending with current market conditions. These announcements are expected to impact overall fiber manufacturing capacity growth beginning in 2002.
    Corning will delay the Oklahoma City construction project by approximately 12-18 months. This would move the expected date for initial production to late 2004 or early 2005. The company will begin to realize additional capacity in Concord in the first half of 2002, with the ramp to full production paced to market conditions
    "We remain committed to our sixth optical fiber manufacturing facility in Oklahoma City and still expect the Concord plant to become the largest fiber manufacturing facility in the world," said Alan Eusden, senior vice president of Optical Fiber at Corning. "We remain confident that bandwidth demand will grow exponentially into the future, fueling overall growth for optical fiber."