Consolidated Statements of Income - USD ($) $ in Millions	3 Months Ended	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2018	Sep. 30, 2017	Sep. 30, 2018	Sep. 30, 2017
Consolidated Statements of Income [Abstract]
Net sales	$ 3,008	$ 2,607	$ 8,255	$ 7,479
Cost of sales	1,776	1,557	4,996	4,491
Gross margin	1,232	1,050	3,259	2,988
Operating expenses:
Selling, general and administrative expenses	439	375	1,352	1,072
Research, development and engineering expenses	244	215	728	623
Amortization of purchased intangibles	27	18	68	53
Operating income	522	442	1,111	1,240
Equity in earnings of affiliated companies	32	31	102	148
Interest income	7	10	29	33
Interest expense	(45)	(37)	(140)	(112)
Translated earnings contract gain (loss), net	230	26	66	(193)
Other income (expense), net	12	7	(11)	(25)
Income before income taxes	758	479	1,157	1,091
Provision for income taxes (Note 5)	(133)	(89)	(383)	(176)
Net income attributable to Corning Incorporated	$ 625	$ 390	$ 774	$ 915
Earnings per common share attributable to Corning Incorporated:
Basic (Note 6)	$ 0.75	$ 0.41	$ 0.85	$ 0.93
Diluted (Note 6)	0.67	0.39	0.82	0.89
Dividends declared per common share	$ 0.18	$ 0.155	$ 0.54	$ 0.465

The aggregate costs incurred (1) in a planned search or critical investigation aimed at discovery of new knowledge with the hope that such knowledge will be useful in developing a new product or service, a new process or technique, or in bringing about a significant improvement to an existing product or process; or (2) to translate research findings or other knowledge into a plan or design for a new product or process or for a significant improvement to an existing product or process whether intended for sale or the entity's use, during the reporting period charged to research and development projects, including the costs of developing computer software up to the point in time of achieving technological feasibility, and costs allocated in accounting for a business combination to in-process projects deemed to have no alternative future use. Also included are the engineering expenses that are incurred while working on new product design, capacity, optimization programs, etc for products that are not currently being produced.

No definition available.