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The European Commission opened an antitrust investigation into Corning in November 2024 over supply agreements for cover glass used in handheld devices. It accepted legally binding commitments from the Gorilla Glass maker on July 18, 2025, resolving the case without a fine or a finding that Corning infringed EU competition law. The decision and hearing officer report were published in the Official Journal on February 9, 2026.
What the EU investigated
The case concerned the supply of alkali-aluminosilicate glass, a material used mainly as cover glass for smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and other handheld electronics. Corning sells such glass principally under its Gorilla Glass brand. The legal category included lithium aluminosilicate (LAS) glass and sodium aluminosilicate (NAS) glass; the final commitments also cover transparent glass ceramics used as handheld-device cover glass. This was a competition case about supply contracts, not a review of screen-protector retail sales or the safety and durability of particular products.
The Commission’s preliminary assessment was that Corning may have held a dominant position in the worldwide market for alkali-aluminosilicate glass. That was a preliminary view, not a final finding of dominance or liability. The proceeding was brought under Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Article 54 of the EEA Agreement. The Commission’s decision announcement describes the market and its preliminary concerns.
What contract terms raised concerns
The Commission examined whether Corning’s arrangements with device makers and glass processors could make it harder for competing producers to reach customers. The suspected practices included:
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- Exclusive or near-exclusive sourcing: requirements for a device maker, or original equipment manufacturer (OEM), to buy a high share or nearly all of its cover-glass demand from Corning.
- Conditional price advantages: rebates or other favorable prices tied to meeting sourcing requirements.
- “English clauses”: terms requiring customers to tell Corning about competing offers and give it an opportunity to match them.
- Arrangements with finishers: conditions affecting companies that process raw cover glass into forms usable by device manufacturers, potentially restricting rivals’ access to demand.
The Commission set out the alleged practices in its notice on Corning’s initial commitments. The allegations were concerns to be addressed through the procedure, not findings that each practice had definitively violated competition law.
How the case was resolved
- November 6, 2024: The Commission opened formal proceedings and issued its preliminary assessment.
- November 13, 2024: Corning submitted initial commitments.
- November 25, 2024–January 13, 2025: The Commission tested the proposed commitments with market participants and invited observations.
- July 18, 2025: The Commission accepted amended commitments and made them legally binding under Article 9 of Regulation 1/2003.
- February 9, 2026: The decision summary and hearing officer report appeared in the Official Journal. The documents are available as the decision summary and hearing officer report.
An Article 9 commitments decision lets the Commission make a company’s proposed measures binding to address competition concerns without deciding whether the company infringed the law. Calling the outcome a resolution or settlement may be convenient shorthand, but it should not be read as an admission of wrongdoing.
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What Corning must do under the commitments
The measures apply to covered alkali-aluminosilicate glass and transparent glass ceramics used as handheld-device cover glass. They govern specified contractual sourcing terms; they do not impose a general limit on Corning’s production or actual market share.
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- Respect the worldwide 50% caps: For specified purchasing requirements, Corning may not require an OEM to source more than 50% of its relevant worldwide demand from Corning. A separate cap applies to requirements on finishers, measured against their combined worldwide demand for the covered materials.
- Do not tie price advantages to those requirements: Corning may not condition price advantages on meeting the specified sourcing requirements.
- Apply the stricter EEA rule: For OEM demand related to the European Economic Area, Corning may not require sourcing from Corning or condition price advantages on such sourcing requirements.
- Limit certain patent enforcement: Corning may enforce relevant patents through patent-infringement claims, rather than using breach-of-contract claims to enforce the covered sourcing terms.
- Keep the measures in force and monitored: The commitments last nine years, with a monitoring trustee overseeing implementation.
The 50% figures are ceilings on specified contractual purchasing obligations, not a rule that Corning can supply only half of a customer’s needs or half of the market. Nor do they mean that every non-exclusive supply contract is prohibited. The detailed scope is set out in the Commission’s commitments decision announcement.
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Does the decision cover Apple?
Not in the same way as the covered market arrangements. The Commission said Corning products developed for Apple, with special compositions and use limited to Apple, fell outside the relevant market identified in its preliminary assessment. The final commitments therefore do not apply to Corning’s agreements with Apple. That exception is specific to those Apple products and agreements; it does not change the scope for other covered customers.
Was Corning found to have broken the law or fined?
No. The Commission did not make a final infringement finding in accepting the commitments, and it imposed no fine as part of this decision. The commitments are nevertheless legally binding. The Commission said non-compliance could lead to a fine of up to 10% of total annual turnover or a periodic penalty payment of up to 5% of daily turnover per day. These are potential enforcement penalties, not fines imposed in the case.
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What could change for device makers and consumers?
OEMs and finishers may have more room to consider alternative suppliers for covered demand because Corning cannot use the specified exclusive or similarly restrictive purchasing terms within the commitments’ scope. Competing glass producers could gain opportunities to approach customers or compete for supply. Reuters reported that Corning customers included Samsung, Sony, Google, HP, Dell and Nokia, while also reporting Apple as a customer; that customer list is Reuters reporting republished by Investing.com, not a list established by the Commission’s decision.
For consumers, any benefit would be indirect: more supplier choice could support competition on price or quality, but the decision does not quantify an effect on phone prices or promise a retail-price reduction. It does not change the physical properties or branding of Gorilla Glass already in devices, require existing phones to be changed, or ensure that manufacturers will switch suppliers.
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Where to follow the outcome
The investigation itself is no longer pending: the Commission accepted binding commitments in July 2025, and the decision was published in February 2026. The relevant next issue is implementation during the commitments’ nine-year term, overseen by the monitoring trustee. The Commission’s competition-policy news archive lists developments in this sector.
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