Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Announces Corning Incorporated's $139 Million Investment to Grow Operations in Monroe County

Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul announced support for Corning Incorporated's investment to grow its operations in the Finger Lakes region. The company will expand operations at two Monroe County locations, aimed at meeting demand in the rapidly growing semiconductor market and supporting increasing stability in this vital supply chain. Corning's expansion efforts will create over 270 new jobs at its Village of Fairport location, which is scheduled to be completed in 2024. This will include the expansion of its administrative and manufacturing facilities, as well as the establishment of a Development and Engineering Center of Excellence nearby. Additionally, the company will equip a new Laser Optics production facility at Jetview Drive in the Town of Gates, which is targeted for completion in 2023.

VIDEO of the event is available on YouTube here and in TV quality (h.264, mp4) format here.

AUDIO of the event is available here.

PHOTOS of the event will be available on the Governor's Flickr page.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Good afternoon, everyone, or maybe still a couple more minutes. It's still morning. Good morning.

First of all, I love coming to anything associated with Corning. There is such a sense of energy and vitality and a place that people really want to be. And I think back on Josh Rodriguez's compelling story about places your family could have gone. And the fact that you came here, you know, we benefit from that decision as a community and as a workplace. But there are many others like you, who we want them to know that this is the home where you can build a future. So thank you for sharing your story. I was in Puerto Rico after hurricanes and earthquakes, and it was hard, but I was so proud to consider you as one of our family here in New York State. So let's give him round applause for sharing his story.

Senator Schumer gave my speech, so I'm done. But he really, really just zeroed in on the essence of what this is all about. It's also about pride. Pride in the fact that we are the best at manufacturing, we are the best at innovation, we are the best at creating the workforce that meets the needs of our employers. We have low-cost power. We have great quality of life. We have fun. This is upstate New York and we love the Buffalo Bills. We have a lot in common, right? We're going to have a stadium for a long time. So this is part of our identity, what, Corning does. I mean, not just in the Southern tier, but here in Fairport, it's part of a community's identity, and that is powerful to me as a Governor.

And when I think about what the work Senator Schumer is doing, yes, he's got weighty responsibility even believe the battles he has to undertake day to day against the forces that are trying to set our nation backwards. But he is out there also showing up every time there's a flooded puddle. He is there to make sure that we fix it, bringing infrastructure money, and supporting our industries. So you may not realize the power of the title Majority Leader. Senator is great, but when you are the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, there is real power behind that. And I want to thank Senator Schumer for harnessing that power for his beloved state every single day. Let's give him a round of applause.

I haven't known Wendell for 20 years like the Senator, but I feel the connection between someone who is so optimistic and so believes in the future of yes, this company, but also our state and in America. And you are the kind of individual that we celebrate and never take for granted that you continue to keep Corning your home.

I will never take that for granted because I grew up in Western New York and saw the flight of so many legacy businesses. Saw it here in Rochester. Companies that we just were always part of the identity of our regions and then they went elsewhere, especially during the seventies. And it was a tough, tough time to find jobs.

And now places like Corning, you never gave up on us. You never ever gave up on this state when I'm sure you are lured and continue to be lured by places all around the globe. Your commitment to this state and your success is tied to our identity. And we're so proud that you have stayed here again and will continue to invest in our state. Wendell Weeks, let's give him another round of applause.

Joe Morelle, since you're so busy calling the Senator every week, you don't have to call me. That's fine. Yeah. Great friend and thank you for what you're doing, fighting the good fight under difficult circumstances as well. What you did and working closely with Adam Bello, getting us through this pandemic. I want to thank both of you for the leadership you demonstrated here as well.

Also, Hope Knight is here and I want to give her a round of applause. She is the leader of Empire State Development. Whenever there is a major announcement, Hope and her team are behind that making that happen.

And of course, Assemblymember Jen Lunsford is here as well. And I think, any other elected officials? Jen's here. Okay. I get in trouble if I miss the electeds. Do we have the Mayor of Fairport? I'm from local government. You can't forget the locals, right? I want to thank all of you.

And, of course, Vinnie. Where's Vinnie? Everybody knows Vinnie. If you want anything with numbers attached, money attached, you go to Vinnie first and he'll get it to happen. So, Vinnie Esposito, our local head of Empire State Development.

I want to just say a couple of things and I did want to talk about a little bit of the history of Corning because it is a powerful story. It is a story again, that really reminds us of the greatness of the state. And what you did in developing technologies. Who didn't cook with Pyrex when they were growing up? Pyrex is part of our household, and you go way back to the 1880s and Thomas Edison's light bulb. That's part of your story, it's part of our story because you did that here. In the 1960s, you were manufacturing 100 percent of all the glass that went into televisions.

That's the first time, I remember being a little kid, yes, I'm that old, we got that first television set. Little did I know that the glass came from Corning, right here in the State of New York. So you've always been there. The Hubble space telescope, from LCD screens. You've always been at the forefront. And now, I think about what the opportunities are, but I also want to pause a second, just think about when I went to see you at Sullivan Park during the pandemic. And when you told me that basically every vial that treated people's COVID, the vaccines that stopped COVID, were created here in New York, my heart swell with pride to know that our workers, our team from New York State were literally saving lives during the pandemic. So you stepped up, you helped save lives, creating billions of doses of vaccines. And I want to thank you for all the work you've done there.

And so, this is a great story. And the Senator and I speak often about the whole semiconductor industry. Nobody has laid claim to this industry in this country yet. We are here to lay down the marker and say, "It is happening here." And I love the reference to Silicon Valley, "That is so yesteryear. So last decade." And you think about the jobs that are coming to our state, not just upstate, but New York City as well. The migration of tech workers from Silicon Valley is phenomenal. I could not have foreseen this. It was always about, "Getting educated," our great schools, our engineering schools upstate, we're known for our great educational system. "Where are you going next?" "Oh, Silicon Valley. That's where the action is." No longer. Sorry, Governor out there, it's over. It's over because people want to be here. They want to be connected with other smart people and they want that quality of life. So I'm really proud that we are now the epicenter of technology jobs. We will soon pass Silicon Valley in terms of jobs. We passed Boston a couple of years ago, so that is our future.

And so, why not embrace not just the people who are part of our workforce, the innovators, the brilliant people that take us to the next level, but also the opportunities to create something that needs to be created here domestically. We can no longer be held captive to foreign supply chains that are disrupted. Whether it's geopolitical affairs, invasions of Russia to Ukraine or what that has done to the wheat supply around the world. We can no longer be vulnerable. I don't want to have to go to China next time there's a pandemic and beg for ventilators and masks. Everything should be manufactured here because we know how to do it, and we do it best.

And that is why the semiconductor industry needs to blossom here in the State of New York, and the work that the Senator is doing. It is a much heavier lift than it should be because everybody should say, "We agree. It's a national security issue for us. It's an economic issue. It'll position us and free us from the supply chains from abroad."

I don't understand why everybody just isn't signing on this second and getting it done. And I'm going to help you Senator, but you have been leading the forefront. Here in the State of New York, we understand also we can put money on the table and show a real commitment. And literally in our last session, the final days, we announced $10 billion for green chips.

What does that mean? We want to position ourselves to be able to help the industries who are growing here but also will come here and help them say yes, understand, this is the place it's happening. This is the place. I've declared this. I've also declared New York, the epicenter of the offshore wind capital of the world.

When I declare something, it happens. Okay. Just want you to know that that's the power of the Governor. I've only had it for a few months, but now we are the epicenter of the semiconductor industry and the work that we're doing in Albany and the work that we've done is just extraordinary. So, the supply chain, which you're doing here is feeding that, so no one has to go abroad.

We can get the manufacturing done. We have some great possibilities of working on it, but I can tell someone coming here, you don't have to go somewhere else and spend the cost of shipping. You just drive down to Fairport or you go up to Canada, the parts are right here and that's why I'm so excited.

We're going to look back on this day. Over 270 jobs, that's great. $139 million of investment, that's fantastic. 5 billion from this state anytime. You're welcome. But you're going to look back at this day and say, this is when everything changed. When we made that commitment, and we work with our federal government, work with our Senator, we deliver here in the State, working with the federal parties, but also, it's industry. You are the key part of all this. We can talk about these goals. We can want this to happen, but if you don't show up here and create the jobs and manufacture something that I completely could not understand, even though the smartest people were trying to explain to me, it is brilliance.

Brilliance is on display here when you're manufacturing, these parts that are just so we're just so proud of this. And I want you to know that as your governor, I want you to be here for generations and generations to come and in other 170 years, I will not be here, I predict, but I want you to continue celebrating that Corning is to New York part of our identity. It's a key part of our identity, and I am proud of that as your governor.

Thank you very much. And let me bring up our Congressman, Joe Morelle.