This will be the company's second expansion this year inConcord, boosting its total investment in North Carolina to $2.5billion. Corning will receive a package of state and countyincentives. The firm expects to add about 500 jobs by 2004 andeclipse the capacity of its own Wilmington, NC plant, which hadbeen considered the world's largest. The firm also said it isscouting sites for another US facilities and would announce thelocation in a few months.

Construction on the new addition will begin immediately withoperations coming on line in 2003 or 2004. When complete, the plantwill account for about $1 billion in county tax value, MauriceEwing, president of Cabarrus County's economic developmentorganization, says in a published report. Ewing identifies thecounty and Piedmont North Carolina as a leader in thetelecommunications infrastructure while providing a counterpoint tothe declining fortunes of the textile industry.

In addition to its Concord and Wilmington facilities, Corninghas cable-making subsidiaries in Hickory, NC and Winston-Salem, NC.The company sold off its cookware business in 1998. The firm'sgross 1999 revenue was $4.7 billion.