GUIYANG, May 7 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,700 participants from 38 countries and regions have confirmed their attendance at an upcoming big data expo to be held in southwest China later this month.

A total of 413 companies and organizations will participate in the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2019, to be held from May 26 to 29 in Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou.

Among them, 135 companies are from abroad, 79 more compared with last year's expo, according to the organizer.

This year's expo plans to have 25 forums focusing on five topics -- digital economy, technological innovation, data security and integrated development, as well as exchange and cooperation.

Since 2015, the expo, the first of its kind in China, has been held for four times in Guiyang.

As China's first big data pilot zone, the mountainous province of Guizhou has attracted heavyweight players, including Apple, Qualcomm, Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba and Foxconn, to establish cloud computing and big data centers as well as regional headquarters.