Reports indicate Corning Inc. plans to relocate to Tamil Nadu

However, Telangana Industries department officials said the State government was yet to get any official information in this regard from the company

Hyderabad: Is Corning Inc. planning to relocate what would be the country’s first Corning Glass manufacturing unit, from Telangana to Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu? Reports in a section of the media indicate that the company has in fact finalized on a 25-acre plot in Pillaipakkam near Sriperumbudur to set up the proposed unit.

However, Telangana Industries department officials said the State government was yet to get any official information in this regard from the company. “We have not lost Corning Inc’s unit. Telangana is still pursuing the project with the management,” a senior official from Industries department said.

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However, media reports including from Chennai say that Corning Inc was offered a 25-acre plot to set up the new unit. Corning Inc, which is a key Apple supplier and American gorilla glass maker, had announced plans to set up the new unit with an investment of Rs.1,000 crore.

The company reportedly had opted for Tamil Nadu over Telangana due to the electronics ecosystem available in Tamil Nadu, besides proximity to other Apple suppliers. A deal was finalised and sealed last week and that the MoU would be signed during the Global Investor Meet (GIM) in January, one report said.

Headquartered in New York, Corning Inc. is a Fortune 500 materials science company, which is into the manufacturing of gorilla glass that is widely used in mobile phones, tablets, and laptops.

In September this year, the Telangana government had announced that the company decided to invest in Telangana in the first-of-its-kind investment in the country. The manufacturing facility was to be set up with a proposed investment of Rs.934 crore and to generate employment for over 800 people. The announcement came after a State delegation met with John Bayne, Senior Vice President, Ravi Kumar, Global Operations Executive, and Sarah Cartmell, Director of Government Affairs from Corning Inc. in New York.