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How high speed fiber optic internet cables are made

See inside the largest optical fiber facility in the United States.

The Biden administration’s $42 billion Broadband Equity Access and Deployment program, or BEAD, signed into law in 2021 and launched last year, aims to connect every household in America with high-speed internet. While Corning’s name is still associated with its Pyrex glass baking dishes, which can withstand extreme temperatures, the company also invented optical fiber in 1970, and these cables are now its largest source of revenue. When the molten glass drip reaches the bottom, the glob at the end is removed, and the trailing thread is pulled through a machine that keeps the fiber at a uniform thickness as it cools and solidifies.

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