Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC’s Jim Cramer that the company’s new partnership with Corning represents a significant opportunity to reshape a critical part of the U.S. technology supply chain.
“We are experiencing the greatest infrastructure construction in human history,” Huang said Wednesday on “Mad Money.” “Artificial intelligence will become fundamental infrastructure around the world, and certainly here in the United States.”
His comments came a day after NVIDIA announced a major partnership with Corning to dramatically expand domestic optical connectivity manufacturing capacity. As part of the agreement, Corning is building three new facilities in Texas and North Carolina, which will create more than 3,000 jobs.
corning Shares rose more than 12% following the announcement in Wednesday trading, with Nvidia shares soaring 6%. Cramer’s Charitable Trust, a portfolio used by the CNBC Investment Club, owns stock in both Corning and Nvidia.
Huang said the scale of spending on AI infrastructure creates a unique opportunity to reinvest in U.S. manufacturing and supply chains after decades of offshoring. Technology supply chains in particular are firmly rooted in places like Taiwan, China and Vietnam.
“This is a tremendous opportunity because we can take advantage of these market dynamics, reinvest and reinvigorate American manufacturing for the first time in generations,” he said.
The partnership focuses on optical technology used to connect chips within large-scale AI data centers. Huang said the next generation of AI infrastructure will require massive amounts of optical connectivity, as computing demands are growing faster than copper wires can handle.
“We’re expanding our optical products on a scale that, frankly, no optical company has ever seen before,” Huang said.
According to Huang, the current wave of AI investment is benefiting far more than just technology companies. He pointed to increased demand for electricians, construction workers, chip manufacturing employees and data center infrastructure specialists as evidence that capacity increases are already rippled through the economy.
“The number of shortages we have and the demand for all of these skilled craft professionals is incredibly high,” Huang said.
Huang said the partnership between NVIDIA and Corning is ultimately about ensuring the U.S. has the infrastructure and supply chain needed to support the next stage of AI development.
“To create and realize this future, we need the support and partnership of the world’s best companies in our supply chains,” he said. “Silicon photonics and optical technology are a very big part of that.”
