He was the head of the German company Trumpf, a leader in laser technology, and founder of the non-profit foundation Berthold Leibinger Stiftung.

[4] On 18 November 2005, he retired from management and served as chairman of the supervisory board of the Trumpf Group until the end of 2012.

[5][6] Under the management of Leibinger, Trumpf became one of the world's largest manufacturers of machine tools, in particular due to the consequent combination of mechanics and electronics.

He was personally involved as chairman of the board of the Schiller-Nationalmuseum [de] and the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach am Neckar.

[5] In July 1990, in a motion brought forward by the Faculty of Engineering and Manufacturing Technology, he was awarded an honorary PhD degree of the University of Stuttgart.

[4] In November 2007 the Aktionsgemeinschaft Soziale Marktwirtschaft [de] [Society of Social Market Economy] awarded him the Alexander-Rüstow-Plakette.

[2] He received the Preis für Verständigung und Toleranz of the Jewish Museum, Berlin, in 2013,[12] and the Aachener Ingenieurpreis [de] in 2014.