Unleashing the Impact of Outward Foreign Direct Investment on the High-Quality Development of High-Tech Manufacturing Industry: Evidence from China

China has shifted from a high-speed growth stage to a high-quality development (HQD) stage and is currently in a critical period of transforming its development model, optimizing its economic structure, and changing its growth momentum. The country should seize opportunities in technological innovation and industrial transformation at the forefront of the world to promote industrial optimization and upgrading, thereby accelerating the economy’s evolution toward a more advanced form, a more complex division of labor, and a more reasonable structure. Therefore, improving the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and promoting the development of a high-tech manufacturing industry (HTMI) are vital for the HQD of China’s economy. The benchmark regression results of this paper indicate that outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) positively affects the HQD of China’s HTMI, and this finding remains robust after a series of tests. From the perspective of the mechanism test, the results confirm that OFDI influences the HQD of the HTMI through market competition, and this influence is affected by the degree of openness to the outside world. This paper further analyzes heterogeneity from two perspectives: dimension and region. The results show that OFDI significantly impacts HTMI’s innovation ability and industrial efficiency. At the same time, the development of OFDI does not have a significant effect on the industrial structure of the HTMI. OFDI in the eastern and central regions plays an essential role in promoting the HQD of high-tech manufacturing. In contrast, OFDI in the western regions adversely affects the HQD of high-tech manufacturing. Finally, based on the research findings and conclusions presented, this paper puts forward countermeasures and suggestions for accelerating the pace of “going out,” gradually improving the opening-up policy, and focusing on the coordinated development of the regional HTMI.