1. Significant Accounting Policies

Basis of Presentation

In these notes, the terms "Corning," "Company," "we," "us," or "our" mean Corning Incorporated and subsidiary companies.

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared pursuant to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and in accordance with U.S. GAAP for interim financial information. Certain information and note disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP have been omitted or condensed. These interim consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with Corning's consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2010 (2010 Form 10-K).

The unaudited consolidated financial statements reflect all adjustments which, in the opinion of management, are necessary for a fair statement of the results of operations, financial position and cash flows for the interim periods presented. All such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. The results for interim periods are not necessarily indicative of results which may be expected for any other interim period or for the full year.

Effective January 1, 2010, the Company adopted required changes to consolidation guidance for variable interest entities which require an enterprise to perform an analysis to determine whether the enterprise's variable interest or interests give it a controlling financial interest in a variable interest entity. This analysis identifies the primary beneficiary of a variable interest entity as the enterprise that has (1) the power to direct the activities of a variable interest entity that most significantly impact the entity's economic performance and (2) the obligation to absorb losses of the entity that could potentially be significant to the variable interest entity or the right to receive benefits from the entity that could potentially be significant to the variable interest entity. In addition, the required changes provide guidance on shared power and joint venture relationships, remove the scope exemption for qualified special purpose entities, revise the definition of a variable interest entity, and require additional disclosures. The adoption of this standard was not material to Corning's consolidated results of operations or financial condition.

Property, Net of Accumulated Depreciation

Land, buildings, and equipment, including precious metals, are recorded at cost. Depreciation is based on estimated useful lives of properties using the straight-line method. Except as described in Note 10 (Property, Net of Accumulated Depreciation), related to the depletion of precious metals, the estimated useful lives range from 10 to 40 years for buildings and 2 to 20 years for equipment.

Included in the subcategory of equipment are the following types of assets:

Asset type	Range of useful life

Computer hardware and software	3to 7 years
Manufacturing equipment (excluding precious metals)	2to 15 years
Furniture and fixtures	5to 10 years
Transportation equipment	5to 20 years

Manufacturing equipment includes certain components of production equipment that are constructed of precious metals. These assets are not depreciated because they have very low physical losses and are repeatedly reclaimed and reused in our manufacturing process over a very long useful life. We treat the physical loss of precious metals in the manufacturing and reclamation process as depletion and account for these losses as a period expense based on actual units lost. Precious metals are integral to many of our glass production processes. They are only acquired to support our operations and are not held for trading or other purposes.

Fair Value Measurements

Major categories of financial assets and liabilities, including short-term investments, other assets and derivatives are measured at fair value on a recurring basis. Certain assets and liabilities including long-lived assets, goodwill, asset retirement obligations, and cost and equity investments are measured at fair value on a nonrecurring basis.

Fair value is the price that would be received from selling an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. When determining the fair value measurements for assets and liabilities required to be recorded at fair value, we consider the principal or most advantageous market in which we would transact and consider assumptions that market participants would use when pricing the asset or liability, such as inherent risk, transfer restrictions, and risk of nonperformance.

Other Income, Net

"Other income, net" in Corning's consolidated statements of income includes the following (in millions):


	Three months ended June 30,				Six months ended June 30,
	2011		2010		2011		2010
Royalty income from Samsung Corning Precision	$	64	$	66	$	125	$	131
Foreign currency exchange and hedge (losses)/gains, net		(7)		3		(17)		12
Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interests				1		1		2
Other, (losses) net		(14)		(6)		(39)		(17)
Total	$	43	$	64	$	70	$	128

New Accounting Standards

In May, 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-04, Fair Value Measurement (Topic 820): Amendments to Achieve Common Fair Value Measurement and Disclosure Requirements in U.S. GAAP and IFRS. This update results in common principles and requirements for measuring fair value and for disclosing information about fair value measurements in accordance with U.S. GAAP and IFRS. ASU 2011-04 is required to be applied prospectively in interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. Early application is not permitted. Corning does not expect adoption of this standard to have a material impact on its consolidated results of operations and financial condition.

In June, 2011, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update No. 2011-05, Comprehensive Income (Topic 220): Presentation of Comprehensive Income. This statement requires companies to present the components of other comprehensive income either in a single continuous statement of comprehensive income or in two separate but consecutive statements of net income and other comprehensive income. This statement is effective for interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2011. Early adoption is permitted and the amendments in this update will be applied retrospectively. Corning does not expect the adoption of the standard to have a material impact to its consolidated results of operations and financial condition.