Thursday, September 10, 2026 · Past editions

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AI Data Center Boom Fuels Corning's NC Manufacturing Expansion

Amazon, Meta and Nvidia deals worth billions are driving new fiber-optic plants across North Carolina, including at Corning's Hickory site.

Corning Inc., the glass and optical fiber manufacturer best known for Gorilla Glass, has struck three multibillion-dollar deals with Amazon, Meta and Nvidia in 2026 to expand U.S. fiber-optic production for AI data centers, according to the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. The Nvidia agreement alone is expected to expand Corning's U.S. fiber capacity by more than 50%, with new manufacturing facilities planned across North Carolina and Texas.

Corning's deal with Meta, worth up to $6 billion, will grow manufacturing at the company's Hickory, NC site to support Meta's data center buildout. CEO Wendell Weeks said the investment could expand Corning's employment footprint in the state.

The deals show how AI infrastructure spending is reshaping industrial supply chains well outside Silicon Valley - optical fiber, the physical backbone carrying data between AI data centers, has become as strategically important to the buildout as the chips themselves.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

GE Aerospace Pours $130M Into Wilmington Plant, Launches Apprenticeships

The Castle Hayne Road facility, which makes jet-engine parts for commercial and defense customers, gets $60M more by year's end.

GE Aerospace has invested more than $130 million in its Wilmington-area manufacturing plant since 2024, spokesperson Matthew Lehner told the Greater Wilmington Business Journal: $22 million in 2024, $52 million in 2025, and a planned $60 million by the end of 2026. The Castle Hayne Road facility manufactures precision jet-engine components, including blisks, spools and high-pressure turbine disks, for both commercial and defense customers.

Much of the spending is refreshing the plant's CNC machining equipment and upgrading buildings. The investment is part of a $1 billion nationwide push GE Aerospace announced in March, and comes as the company marks the first year of its apprenticeship program with Cape Fear Community College.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

Wilmington Nonprofit's 0%-Interest Loans Fund Career Changes

The Forward Fund has financed nearly $3 million for almost 300 workers training as linemen, truckers and nurses.

The Forward Fund, a Wilmington nonprofit founded two years ago, provides up to $15,000 in 0%-interest loans to help workers cover living expenses while training for high-demand careers, founder and CEO Meaghan Dennison told the Greater Wilmington Business Journal. Borrowers repay the loan once they're employed, under a pay-it-forward model that has grown the fund from $7 million to more than $8.5 million.

Recipients include electrical linemen, truckers, law enforcement officers and registered nurses. The nonprofit partners with community colleges, including Cape Fear Community College, and was named a 2026 honoree by the statewide workforce group myFutureNC.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

Developing / On Watch

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Ongoing stories worth tracking over the next few days.

Local - Wilmington & Wrightsville Beach

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Soda Pop District Sees New Investment Along Princess Street

Charlotte-based Cuadra Capital bought four properties in the district as venues like Perennial Harbor expand.

Charlotte-based real estate investor Cuadra Capital purchased four properties in Wilmington's Soda Pop District along Princess Street in May, the Greater Wilmington Business Journal reports. Nearby, Perennial Harbor, an outdoor event venue co-owned by Ashley Johnson and Ally Favory, is renovating an adjacent building into an indoor event space with garden views, expanding on the venue the pair launched last year in a former laundromat.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

Boys & Girls Clubs of SE NC Credits Endowment for New Bus Fleet

A $1.6 million New Hanover Community Endowment grant replaced a fleet that broke down almost daily.

The Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern North Carolina used a 2023 grant of $1.6 million over two years from the New Hanover Community Endowment to replace a 40-year-old bus fleet that CEO Dawn-Michele Blalock said broke down almost daily and disrupted summer camp routes. The endowment, created from the roughly $2 billion 2021 sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center, has since funded additional facility renovations and youth programming, according to grant records.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

Wilmington Health Lists Main Campus for $11.85 Million

New: the healthcare provider plans a five-year leaseback while most services shift to a new building near The Pointe at Barclay.

Wilmington Health's 66,000-square-foot main campus at 1202 Medical Center Drive is listed for $11.85 million in a pending sale-leaseback deal, CEO Jeff James told the Greater Wilmington Business Journal, with a lease term likely around five years. Most services, including lab, imaging, cardiology, pain management, orthopedics and urgent care, will move to a new medical office building near The Pointe at Barclay once construction finishes; James said retrofitting the aging facility had become more expensive than building new.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

Cape Fear and Brunswick County Habitat Chapters Weigh Merger

The two Habitat for Humanity affiliates are conducting due diligence through late fall on a possible combination.

The boards of Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity and Brunswick County Habitat for Humanity voted to begin due diligence on a potential merger, reviewing bylaws, audited financials and other records through late fall 2026, the Greater Wilmington Business Journal reports. Both chapters build affordable housing and operate ReStores; leaders from each said combining resources could expand their reach to families in need of housing.

Greater Wilmington Business Journal · read

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