Corning CEO Wendell Weeks credits tariff immunity to a 90% domestic U.S. revenue base and only 1% of U.S. sales sourced from Chinese factories. GLW has surged 93% year to date, backed by Q2 core EPS of $0.78 beating consensus and 32% Optical Communications revenue growth. Corning's customer-proximity model, which supplies Apple, Nvidia, and Amazon from U.S. factories, was built for innovation rather than tariff protection, but it ends up delivering both.
Act now: the analyst who called NVIDIA in 2010 just named his top 10 AI stocks — and Corning didn't make the cut. Grab the names FREE today. On Jim Cramer's Mad Money on August 14, 2026, Corning (NYSE:GLW) Chair and CEO Wendell Weeks was asked a question that many retirement-focused shareholders have been asking themselves this year: are tariffs hurting the business?
Tariffs really have de minimis impact on us and that's because of our philosophy," Weeks said. "You got a sense of that today in the factory we locate close to our customers because the primary way that we win is with innovation." Weeks then offered the specific figures that anchor the argument: "So as a result, let's take the U.S. for example. 90% of our U.S. revenue is created by U.S. origin products. Only 1% of what we sell in the United States we make in China.
So tariffs, because of our fundamental philosophy and our values tend not to have a significant impact on us." Those two figures, attributed to Weeks on the broadcast rather than to a formal company disclosure, are the spine of the case. If 90% of what Corning sells into the United States is made in there, and only 1% of U.S. sales originate from Chinese factories, the surface area exposed to Section 301 duties and the ongoing U.S.-China trade friction is narrow by construction. The mechanism Weeks described predates the current tariff cycle.
Corning has long placed plants near its largest customers and competed on product innovation rather than low-cost labor arbitrage. That posture shows up in the current customer roster: the Kentucky facility producing 100% of iPhone and Apple Watch cover glass, the Nvidia partnership to expand U.S. optical connectivity manufacturing, and the Amazon multi-billion-dollar agreement for U.S. data center fiber, cable, and connectivity. A footprint built for proximity to customers happens to also insulate the company from import duties.
Cramer's question was premised on tariffs weighing on the stock even as the underlying business seemed unaffected. The price data reflects that tension. Corning opened at $169.74 as of August 17, 2026, up 9.6% over the prior month, but still up 93.4% year to date and 158.8% over the past year.
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