For Corning, the rapid expansion in demand for liquid crystal display glass has compensated for a steep decline in demand for optical fibre – another material in which it is global leader and which propelled the company’s growth in the late 1990s.

In 2006, glass for flat-screen displays accounted for 41 per cent of Corning’s sales of $5.2bn and, including Corning’s share of the profit from a joint venture with Samsung, 87 per cent of its net income of $1.8bn.