Ever since the 20th century pepper, tin and rubber became the main merchandise. Over the past few years Penang grew to become the Asian version of the American silicon-valley. Georgetown gained the status of 'Cybercity' in 2005. Especially in the area of Bayan Lepas one can find a lot of well known manufacturers of electronics and other components. Giants like Dell, Intel and AMD all have (or used to have) their Asian HQ on Penang. An important reason for this is the safety and the favorable financial conditions Malaysia has.