Producer
Prysmian
Prysmian Group (BIT: PRY, HQ Milan; ~€16B revenue) is the world's largest cable and wire systems manufacturer (cables for energy transmission, telecoms, building wiring, industrial applications). Prysmian does not produce its own copper rod at scale; it acquires rod as the primary input for its cable manufacturing operations across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Post-merger with General Cable (2018, ~$3B), Prysmian operates 106 facilities in 50+ countries. As the world's largest cable maker, Prysmian's copper rod purchasing volume makes it one of the largest single buyers of copper rod globally — its sourcing decisions significantly influence rod pricing and availability in European and North American markets.
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Inputs supplied
4
Goods downstream
6
Facilities
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Stories
What they make
7 inputs Prysmian supplies
Click an input to see every good that depends on it, every country that produces it, and every other company in the supply chain.
manufactured
High-Voltage Transmission Conductors (ACSR/ACCC) →
manufactured
ACSR Overhead Transmission Line Conductors →
manufactured
Optical Fiber Preform (Silica Glass Rod) →
manufactured
Optical Fiber Preform (Silica Glass Rod) →
manufactured
Optical Fiber Preform (Silica Glass Rod) →
manufactured
Copper rod (8mm) →
chemical
Helium (Grade 5.0 / Fiber-Drawing Grade) →
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something Prysmian makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
Where they make it
6 facilities
Prysmian Claremont Optical Fiber Plant →
USClaremont, North Carolina · preform_plant
Prysmian optical fiber preform and drawing plant in Claremont, Catawba County, NC (near Hickory). Preform fabrication started 2014 (pilot), expanded 2016 ($20M), 2021 ($50M), and most recently $54M additional expansion. Prysmian's US Center of Excellence for optical fiber; self-sufficient from European preform supply. Serves US domestic cable market. Hired Corning workers during 2017 Corning strike. Now also supply point for US government-funded broadband infrastructure (BEAD, RDOF programs). Uses OVD process (Corning license since 1983).
Prysmian Clarksburg Conductor Plant (former General Cable) →
USClarksburg, West Virginia · manufacturing
Former General Cable flagship US plant; now Prysmian following 2018 acquisition. Produces ACSR, ACCC, ACAR transmission conductors. One of the largest US ACSR manufacturing facilities. Clarksburg has served US utilities for decades and is pre-qualified with virtually all major US transmission owners.
Prysmian Clyde NC — Wire & Cable Plant (ex-General Cable) →
USNorth Carolina · manufacturing
Prysmian Group Clyde, NC wire and cable plant (formerly General Cable, acquired 2018). Draws copper rod to building wire and industrial cable. Representative Prysmian US manufacturing site — one of ~15 US cable plants. Rod input sourced primarily from domestic suppliers (Southwire) and imports. Source: https://www.prysmian.com/en/about/our-locations
Prysmian – Douvrin Plant (Hauts-de-France) →
FRHauts-de-France
Europe's largest optical fiber plant; 155,000 sq m; 348 employees. Produces 25M km of preforms per year (some drawn on-site, remainder shipped for drawing elsewhere). Uses proprietary plasma vapor deposition (PCVD variant) process developed in-house. ~€15M recent capacity investment co-funded by French government. One of the highest-volume single preform production sites in the world outside China. Inherited from Draka acquisition (2011).
Prysmian – FOS Battipaglia Plant (Campania, Italy) →
ITCampania
FOS (Fibre Ottiche Sud) facility near Salerno/Naples; Prysmian's Italian Center of Excellence for optical fiber. ~300 staff (250 workers + 50 engineers); produces ~9M fiber-km equivalent/year; responsible for ~50% of all Prysmian European fiber production. R&D embedded on-site. Transitioning to larger preform formats. Uses OVD process (Corning license since 1983). One of the largest single optical fiber preform facilities in Europe.
Prysmian – Sorocaba Plant (São Paulo, Brazil) →
BRSão Paulo
Prysmian Center of Excellence for optical fiber in Sorocaba, São Paulo State; 4.5M fiber-km preform capacity/year. Serves Latin American and export markets. One of five Prysmian global optical fiber excellence centers alongside Battipaglia (IT), Douvrin (FR), Claremont (US), Eindhoven (NL).
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Energy Cables & HVDC Submarine Systems
40%Optical Fiber & Telecom Cables
20%Building & Construction Wiring
25%Industrial, OEM & Aerospace
15%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2024
Prysmian Group is simultaneously the world's likely-largest optical fiber preform producer AND the dominant global submarine power cable manufacturer for offshore wind farms. The same company that makes the glass rods from which internet infrastructure fiber is drawn also makes the high-voltage cables connecting offshore wind turbines to shore. When Europe builds new offshore wind capacity, Prysmian's power cable business competes for the same factory capacity, engineering talent, and capital allocation as its fiber preform business. A wind energy boom directly competes with a broadband fiber boom — inside the same company's production planning.
Prysmian ↗Concentration2024
Prysmian's submarine cable division (operating vessels including the Leonardo da Vinci and Ulisse cable-laying ships) is fully booked through 2030 for offshore wind interconnection projects. US offshore wind projects (Vineyard Wind, Revolution Wind, SouthCoast Wind) are competing with European projects for the same 5–6 global submarine cable-laying vessels. Submarine cable is a separate product from overhead ACSR but the same Prysmian plants and engineering teams support both. Prysmian is simultaneously at capacity for both land-based transmission conductor and offshore submarine cable.
Prysmian Group ↗Capacity2023
Prysmian's HVDC submarine cable business has an estimated backlog of €15B+ (as of 2024) driven by European offshore wind expansion and grid interconnection projects. The North Sea floating wind buildout (ScotWind, NOWERI, Norwegian AO) alone requires hundreds of kilometers of dynamic and static submarine HVDC export cables. Prysmian's existing submarine cable manufacturing capacity in Pikkala (Finland), Arco Felice (Italy), and other facilities is at capacity through 2028+, with delivery lead times extending to 2027-2030 for new HVDC contracts. This multi-year supply bottleneck in submarine cable manufacturing is a critical constraint on the pace of European offshore wind installation — the cable that carries renewable electricity from turbine to shore is backlogged, slowing the energy transition regardless of turbine availability, wind resource, or political will.
Prysmian Group ↗Origin2023
Prysmian Group was formed in 2005 when Goldman Sachs-backed private equity carved out the cable division of Pirelli (the Italian tire company) and listed it on Borsa Italiana. Pirelli had been a cable manufacturer since 1879 — one of Italy's oldest industrial companies — and its cable business included submarine cable capabilities dating to the 1880s transatlantic telegraph era. Prysmian then acquired Draka (Dutch cables, 2011, €939M) and General Cable (US, 2018, $3B) — becoming the world's largest cable company by revenue (~€16B). The General Cable acquisition added unexpected breadth: General Cable's heritage included automotive and aerospace wiring harnesses, making Prysmian a supplier to Boeing and Airbus for aircraft wiring bundles — a product line with almost no visible connection to high-voltage submarine power cables.
Prysmian Group ↗