With its headquarters in Xiamen, Meiya Pico is a digital forensics and information security products and service provider in China. [Photo/meiyapico.com]

Xiamen, a coastal city in south east China, has broken into the top ten cities in China for big data development, according to a newly-released report.

The Annual Report on Development of Big Data in China by the country's first national lab of big data explores the development of the digitalization of China and ranks 31 major cities in China in order of their development in the big data industry over the last year.

The big data industry in Xiamen generated approximately 40 billion yuan ($6.28 billion) in 2017, up by more than 100 percent year-on-year.

The emerging industry has seen rapid development in Xiamen and numerous renowned companies in its subdivided fields have been nurtured, such as Meiya Pico in information safety, Meitu in face image, and YLZ Information Technology Co in health care.

However, there are still some problems in the development of the Chinese city's big data industry: a lack of leading companies and professional data management agencies, and only a slow increase in the government's financial support in recent years.

According to the local government, their financial support to the industry will be increased and other moves will also be implemented, in order to attract more big data leading companies from home and abroad to settle in the city.

Also, a big data management agency will be erected to issue policies for big data companies to locate in Xiamen, encourage the R&D of big data technology and formulate development strategies for the city's big data industry.

The annual report indicates that the big data industry has become a new driver for China's economic and social development.

Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Chengdu, Guiyang, Qingdao and Ningbo are the other top 9 cities among the list.