Showa Denko Carbon Inc., a Japanese maker of graphite electrodes, is creating 100 jobs in Ridgeville, South Carolina. The company plans to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to expand its existing facility there. Showa Denko supplies the global steel industry.

"Because our business has been successful and we see growing demand for high quality graphite electrodes, we have decided to expand within the overall framework of SDK's new medium-term business plan, PEGASUS. We believe this decision will be good for our customers and the community," said Robert C. Whitten, president and CEO of Showa Denko Carbon.

The company's Ridgeville facility, which currently employs more than 220 people, supplies the steel and auto supply industries. It expects to complete the expansion by the middle of 2013.

Showa Denko has been located in Ridgeville since 1988 and produces about 40 percent of large diameter, ultra-high-power graphite electrodes used in the United States from the South Carolina location.