Producer
GrafTech International Holdings Inc.
American graphite electrode and specialty graphite products company (NYSE: EAF, HQ Parma Ohio; formerly Brookfield Asset Management portfolio company); the world's leading producer of ultra-high power (UHP) graphite electrodes for electric arc furnace (EAF) steelmaking — and the primary US producer of petroleum needle coke, which is the feedstock for both graphite electrodes AND synthetic graphite battery anodes. GrafTech's Clarksburg West Virginia needle coke facility (one of only a handful of petroleum needle coke facilities in the world) produces the specialized petroleum-derived carbon precursor that is graphitized to produce synthetic graphite. When EAF steel production surges (green steel transition driving EAF adoption), graphite electrode demand rises, needle coke tightens, and battery anode graphite production costs rise simultaneously. GrafTech went public in 2018 and entered long-term contracts for graphite electrodes; its needle coke production connects US EAF steel manufacturing directly to global battery anode supply.
1
Inputs supplied
1
Goods downstream
0
Facilities
0
Stories
What they make
1 input GrafTech International Holdings Inc. 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.
Where it shows up
Goods downstream
Essential goods that depend on something GrafTech International Holdings Inc. makes — pick one to see the full supply chain.
What else they do
Business segments
The company's full revenue map — where this supply-chain role fits within their broader business.
Graphite Electrodes
88%Petroleum Needle Coke
8%Advanced Graphite Materials
4%
Intelligence
What's known
Sourced claims about this company's role in supply chains — chokepoints, concentration, incidents, dual-use connections.
Did you know2024
GrafTech International is the US's primary producer of petroleum needle coke at its Clarksburg, West Virginia facility — and petroleum needle coke is the critical feedstock for both graphite electrodes (used in EAF green steel production) AND synthetic graphite battery anodes (used in EV batteries). This creates a structural collision between two green transition industries: as the global steel industry transitions from blast furnaces to electric arc furnaces (reducing CO2 emissions), EAF graphite electrode demand rises, tightening petroleum needle coke supply and raising costs for battery anode graphite producers simultaneously. The "green steel" transition and the "EV battery" transition compete for the same carbon precursor from the same limited set of needle coke facilities worldwide. GrafTech's Clarksburg plant sits at the intersection of two major decarbonization supply chains — when one accelerates, it strains the other.
GrafTech International Holdings Inc. ↗Origin2023
GrafTech International traces to National Carbon Company, founded in 1886 in Cleveland Ohio to manufacture carbon brushes for electrical generators — one of the earliest industrial electrical components companies. National Carbon became famous as the manufacturer of Eveready dry cell batteries before that business was spun off. National Carbon merged into Union Carbide Corporation in 1917 (the same Union Carbide whose Bhopal India pesticide plant killed 3,787 people in 1984). Union Carbide's carbon and graphite division (graphite electrodes for EAF steel) was sold as UCAR International in 1995, renamed GrafTech International in 2000. GrafTech's lineage is thus: electrical generator brushes (1886) → dry cell batteries → graphite electrodes for steelmaking → petroleum needle coke supplier for both steel and EV batteries.
GrafTech International Holdings Inc. ↗