The relationship between Apple Inc. and Corning Inc. is like a marriage. Corning makes Gorilla Glass, which is in the screen of every iPhone, and the two companies have been together since the iPhone’s introduction in 2007. Each has made extensive commitments to the other.
Corning commercialized the glass, which is strengthened with potassium ions, at the urging of Steve Jobs. When Corning’s CEO, Wendell Weeks, initially hesitated, saying the Corning, New York-based company didn’t have the capability, the notoriously demanding Jobs responded: “Don’t be afraid. … You can do it.” Six months later, Corning delivered. Just last year, Apple responded in kind by making a $200 million research-and-development investment in Corning and its plant in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, that specializes in making cutting-edge glass.