TOKYO, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Daicel Corp said it would boost production of air bag inflators to meet demand for the component at the heart of rival Takata Corp's quality problems, which have led to the recall of more than 20 million vehicles.
Daicel will hire about 100 workers in Japan as it increases capacity at its factory in Hyogo prefecture, western Japan, likely around the middle of this year, a spokesman said. The news was first reported in the Nikkei business daily on Tuesday.
Osaka-based Daicel would also consider adding production at its overseas factories, including in the United States, in anticipation of rising demand outside the replacement of Takata inflators.
The scale of the capacity expansion had yet to be decided and would depend on how many replacement inflators were needed.
The company's shares rose more than 2 percent in early morning trade, compared with a 0.8 percent rise in the benchmark Nikkei average. Takata's shares were down 1 percent.
With a 20 percent market share, Daicel is one of the world's largest makers of air bag inflators, the explosive device that allows bags to blow up in a fraction of a second. Five deaths have been linked to Takata's faulty inflators, which can spray metal shards.
Automakers including Takata's biggest customer, Honda Motor Co, have approached Daicel and others to supply inflators as Takata struggles to make replacement parts fast enough. Sweden's Autoliv has also said it will build additional inflator capacity to meet demand. (Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Stephen Coates)