Infineon Technologies provides semiconductor and system solutions for automotive and industrial power devices, chip cards, and security applications. Its predecessor was the semiconductor division of Siemens Group. It became independent in 1999 and went public in 2000. Infineon is currently the world's third-largest IGBT manufacturer and is notable for having both 8-inch and 12-inch IGBT device production lines. As one of the few companies that master the core technology of IGBT chips, Infineon's IGBT chip production is among the top in the world. Some power semiconductor manufacturers purchase IGBT chips from Infineon for packaging into IGBT modules. Infineon's ultra-thin IGBT chip processing technology represents a significant technical challenge for other manufacturers. Infineon has been ranked first in the global power semiconductor market for nine consecutive years. Infineon is headquartered in Neubiberg, Germany, and has branches in California, the United States; Singapore in the Asia-Pacific region; and Tokyo, Japan.