To revive Penang's economy, Lim Chong Eu created the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone and courted foreign multinational corporations for investments. Pioneer tax status was granted to multinational firms seeking to establish assembly plants within Bayan Lepas, which was formerly the rice bowl of Penang. Major electronic and engineering firms, including Motorola, Bosch, Hewlett-Packard and Hitachi, flocked in, setting up assembly plants within the area. Complemented by cheap labour, the Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone, one of the major electronics manufacturing zones in Asia, grew to become the Silicon Valley of the East and was instrumental in pulling Penang out from its economic slump, greatly propelling the state's economy as one of the main economic powerhouses within Malaysia. To this day, manufacturing remains one of Penang's two largest economic sectors, contributing as much as 47.4% of Penang's GDP .