CORNING ($4.3 bn turnover in 1999) has, on the one hand, taken over the PHOTONICS TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH CENTER laboratories for $66 million from BT - BRITISH TELECOMMUNICATIONS, and, on the other, NETOPTIX (filters for optical fiber networks), for $2 bn. The group has also announced the creation of a joint-venture with the Korean firm SAMSUNG called SAMSUNG CORNING MICRO-OPTICS which will produce components in Asia.