BASF SE (German pronunciation: [beːaːɛsˈʔɛf] ), an initialism of its original name Badische Anilin- und Sodafabrik (German for 'Baden Aniline and Soda Factory'), is a German multinational company and the largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany.
BASF comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries, operating six integrated production sites and 390 other production sites across Europe, Asia, Australia, the Americas and Africa. BASF has customers in over 190 countries and supplies products to a wide variety of industries. Despite its size and global presence, BASF has received relatively little public attention since it abandoned the manufacture and sale of BASF-branded consumer electronics products in the 1990s.