NEW YORK, July 20 (Reuters) - Corning Inc GLW.N said at an event with U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday that it plans to spend $500 million and create 1,000 jobs in the United States making a new kind of glass for vials and cartridges to hold injectable drugs.
The commitments were made as part of Trump's "Made in America" week, during which he showcased American-made products and made an impassioned defense of his 'America First' policies.
Corning said it developed the new type of glass in collaboration with drugmakers Merck (NYSE:MRK) & Co MRK.N and Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) PFE.N , who were also at the event.
Corning spokeswoman Elizabeth Dann said the jobs would be at a new facility in a location that is yet to be determined in the U.S. southeast, as well as at existing plants in New Jersey and New York.
Corning said the commitments were the first part of a planned $4 billion investment in the new pharmaceutical glass. The glass, called Corning Valor Glass, is stronger and more damage-resistant than other pharmaceutical glass, according to Corning.
Corning said the investment should eventually create 4,000 new jobs, but it did not provide a time frame for those jobs.