Guangzhou’s high-tech scene has exploded in the last few years

Dave Zhong | Getty Images for CNBC International

CNBC Presents East Tech West – Day 1 NANSHA, CHINA – NOVEMBER 27: Wang Dong, Deputy Mayor of Guangzhou, speaks during Day 1 of CNBC East Tech West at LN Garden Hotel Nansha Guangzhou on November 27, 2018 in Nansha, Guangzhou, China. (Photo by Dave Zhong/Getty Images for CNBC International)

The number of companies in high-tech industries in the Chinese port city of Guangzhou has leaped in the last few years, a government official said on Tuesday.

The city in southern China, an evolving tech hub, has seen its number of tech firms swell from 1,919 in 2015 to more than 8,600 at the end of 2017. That number looks to test 11,000 by the end of this year, said Wang Dong, deputy mayor of Guangzhou at CNBC’s East Tech West conference in the Nansha district of Guangzhou.

That surge underscores the rapid changes and development of Guangzhou, which is also a port city and a major manufacturing hub of the world’s second-largest economy.

Wang gave a welcome address at the new, invite-only retreat.

Guangzhou is part of the Greater Bay Area, which aims to develop into a global hub of innovation, the event is bringing together executives and investors from across the cutting edge of tech.