As data centers race to scale up and meet the demands of the AI era, their environmental impact increases at a similar rate. Rapid expansion and efforts to decarbonize must go hand in hand if this growth is to be viable long term. 

To make matters more complex, in today's digital economy where facilities are increasingly relied upon to deliver critical outputs without interruption, quality and performance must also come built-in. 

As a result, identifying energy-efficient designs and deploying high-density solutions are central to reducing carbon footprints while driving business value and prioritizing performance all at once. 

Underpinning data center operations is fiber cabling. Reimagining this crucial component is central to unlocking efficiency gains and increasing sustainability right at the core of operations. 

At the heart of this conversation, Corning is driving innovations in fiber to enable growth while reducing environmental impact. As part of Corning’s DCD>Telco Innovation Day 2025, Aislin Sullivan, Corning’s programme director of sustainability shares the company’s strategies for delivering future-ready solutions that support greener networks.

Sustainability in the new era 

The exponential growth in the number and size of AI-ready facilities has generated huge demand on resources – not only in terms of construction materials, but also mechanical and electrical infrastructure to support connectivity demands, plus the high volumes of power and water required to operate these hubs of computing power.

“Delivering hyper density with minimal environmental impact has become an operational necessity, and the sooner we innovate these future-ready solutions with sustainability in mind, the better prepared we will be for the future,” says Sullivan, adding:

“We define sustainability not just as the right thing to do, but also as a business driver for value and innovation. When we embed eco-conscious design guidelines and sustainable thinking from the start of the innovation process, we can ensure that every product and solution we design considers the least environmental impact, while at the same time delivering operational benefits.”

Scaling up by shrinking down 

In today’s dense AI environments, space is at a premium and every square inch counts, so when it comes to fiber cabling, in order to fit more into a smaller footprint, the way it’s organized, installed and managed must be redefined – without compromising on performance.

Future-ready solutions must not only support today’s ultra-high densities, but be designed with flexibility built-in, to respond quickly to rising demands. Sullivan explains how SMF-28 Contour fiber – a key enabler of Corning’s Glassworks AITM solutions – delivers on this must-have:

“At Corning, we’re reimagining fiber cabling and connectivity solutions from the ground up. To solve for scale and density, SMF-28® Contour fiber offers a reduced diameter – 40 percent smaller than standard fiber – and improved bending performance that allows significantly more fibers to fit within the same pathways, while meeting the signal integrity and loss requirements of AI workloads.

“Combining SMF-28 Contour fiber with our optimized ContourTM Flow cable and small form factor (SFF) connectors not only enables more capacity and high-performance, but they’re faster to install, easier to route, and simple to manage – even in the most crowded environments.”

Crucially, this means twice the amount of fibers can be installed within the same cable space to support higher densities. But what does this mean in terms of driving sustainability? Sullivan explains: 

“We quantify environmental impact via recognized methodologies such as life cycle assessments. Our recent study revealed a potential carbon footprint reduction of up to 27 percent per fiber when comparing 864F Contour Flow cable to a legacy 432F RocketRibbon® cable”

In other words, more fibers within the same footprint translates into a more efficient use of materials, which in turn contributes to decarbonization efforts. 

Beyond the cable, the benefits of this approach extend even further to transform installation and streamline project timelines. For brownfield sites in particular, it means more efficient overhaul and upgrades while saving on labor, materials, reducing waste, and speeding up final delivery. Here, the savings are threefold: cost, time, and environmental impact. 

“Performance and sustainability must scale together,” adds Sullivan. “That’s why we design products that have the highest performance, not only for today, but for their entire lifetime. As a result, the environmental impact is minimized by avoiding replacements and repairs that require more resources.”

Less waste, less work 

Often overlooked, packaging represents another key opportunity for driving sustainability. Beyond simply reducing waste, optimized packaging can reduce installation time and speed up deployments, driving efficiency from end-to-end.

Once again, these efforts cannot be carried out in isolation. Limiting waste and installation work must also prioritize the fundamental purpose of that packaging: to protect products from shipping all the way through to onsite delivery. 

“We launched our connectivity packaging program about two years ago,” says Sullivan. “It evaluates every aspect of packaging from which materials to use – prioritizing paper over plastic or foam for instance – sourcing recycled content, maximizing the amount of product inside a box, reel, or pallet, to completely redesigning in order to optimize materials and speed of installation.”

Sullivan shares two real-world examples that illustrate the company’s impact: returnable packaging and Corning Configured Racks (CCR):

“Returnable packaging requires dedicated collaboration with our customers plus our plant and logistics partners. We piloted reusable bulk containers made from 100 percent recycled content with one of our major hyperscale customers. Following that success, we’re expanding the program.”

From this pilot, Corning was able to increase the amount of product per pallet by 25 percent. This translates to around a 50lb reduction in packaging materials – approximately 15lbs of cardboard and 35lbs of wood for every container. Over time, the savings compound to deliver an impressive reduction in waste materials. 

“Secondly, CCRs – which essentially arrive pre-assembled and ready to be installed on site – eliminate the need for packaging each component individually, speeding up installation and reducing waste dramatically,” continues Sullivan. “Together, these solutions support our own decarbonization goals as well as our customer’s operational priorities and sustainability targets.”

The value proposition of not only reducing waste but also installation time is central to making these green initiatives a no-brainer when it comes to customer buy-in. 

The next phase 

The model is clear: develop one-stop-shop solutions that increase efficiency, installation speed, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability. Tomorrow’s innovations must be today’s priority – with sustainability a core consideration from the outset. Sullivan shares what lies ahead for the future of cabling: 

“Multicore fiber (MCF) has the potential to meet the increasingly high-density demands of the future while using fewer resources. With a four core MCF, you can increase the bandwidth capacity within the same footprint by essentially four times, and while this is still in development, it represents a significant opportunity to reach the next level of density and further reduce environmental impact.” 

Another key shift on the horizon lies in the back end of the network. While the front end is already largely occupied by optical fiber solutions, back end server networks still rely heavily on copper cables to connect GPUs. Fiber is inherently more sustainable than copper – both in terms of the raw materials and from an energy efficiency standpoint. 

Transitioning from copper to optical fiber via solutions such as co-packaged optics – an integration method that combines optical transceivers and electrical chips within the same package – is fiber’s next greatest challenge, and a promising opportunity for Corning.

As operators work towards ambitious decarbonization targets amidst rapid network growth, the need for sustainability and innovation to work hand in hand has never been more urgent. With its Glassworks AITM portfolio at the forefront of delivering solutions that support both these critical goals in tandem, Corning is ensuring that the industry, and the planet, is well-equipped for the future. 

>> Need engineering help building the sustainable data center of the future, contact Corning here