NVIDIA and Corning Incorporated have announced a multiyear partnership to scale U.S.-based optical connectivity manufacturing for AI infrastructure. The deal commits Corning to a tenfold expansion of its domestic optical connectivity manufacturing capacity, a greater than 50% increase in U.S. fiber production, and the construction of three new facilities across North Carolina and Texas — creating more than 3,000 jobs in the process. To understand why this matters, it helps to understand what optical connectivity actually is and where it sits in the AI infrastructure stack.

A working reference for the vocabulary of transportation — organized by mode and domain. Definitions cover infrastructure, operations, policy, and emerging mobility, written for industry professionals, planners, journalists, and analysts. Fundamentals Mode A specific form of transportation defined by the infrastructure and vehicle type it uses — road, rail, air, water, pipeline. Modal choice involves trade-offs between speed, cost, capacity, and environmental impact. Modal shift — moving freight or passengers from one mode to another — is a primary lever of transportation policy.

The technology relationship between the United States and China did not break in a single moment. It eroded through a decade of escalating restrictions, retaliatory measures, investment screenings, and legislative maneuvers — each move accelerating the next. What began as targeted actions against individual companies has become a structural reorganization of the global technology supply chain. This timeline documents that process from its earliest institutional signals through the present. 2015 January — The Obama administration’s Department of Commerce adds CETC (China Electronics Technology Group Corporation), a state-owned defense electronics conglomerate, to the Entity List, citing its role in supplying military electronics.