Gorilla glass maker Corning In., recently announced plans to set up a front-cover glass manufacturing facility in India. Now, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd has been appointed as the design and engineering consultant. Meanwhile, the EPC contractor is expected to be on board soon.

This will be the country’s first facility to manufacture high-quality, finished front cover glass for smartphones. Corning signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Tamil Nadu Government for the upcoming facility in January 2024. The project broke ground on June 25, 2024.

Located in the SIPCOT Pillaipakkam Industrial Area of Chennai’s Sriperumbudur, Corning’s upcoming facility will cover an anticipated 25 Acres.

Corning is developing this project alongside Optiemus Infraconstruction Ltd, India’s leading telecommunications and manufacturing enterprise.

The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), named BIG Tech (Bharat Innovative Glass Technologies) plans to invest an estimated Rs 1,003 Crore in this facility.

Furthermore, the project’s construction cost is nearly Rs 900 Crore and will be developed in phases. Phase 1 aims to produce approximately 30 million pieces and is set to commence by Q2 2025.

This project aims to meet the growing demand from manufacturers in India and aligns with the government’s ‘Make in India‘ initiative.