Amid China’s “dual circulation” development paradigm, the construction of an autonomous and controllable industrial chain discourse system has emerged as a core issue of competitiveness at the firm, industry, and national levels. As digital intelligence and ecological networks reshape the industrial landscape, traditional industry boundaries are being replaced by complex network structures. This shift drives firm inno-vation towards open and collaborative ecosystem models. By orchestrating external knowledge flows, technological nodes, and collaborative ties, innovation networks enable firms to develop inimitable niche advantages embedded in broader innovation ecosystems. In the digital era, innovation networks have emerged as the new strategic frontier in the contest for industrial chain discourse power.

Based on social network analysis, this paper takes China’s A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2023 as research samples, constructs a firm-level innovation network PageRank centrality index, and empirically exa-mines the mechanisms through which innovation network embedding positions affect industrial chain discourse power. The empirical results show that greater innovation network centrality significantly enhances industrial chain discourse power. Resource-information advantages and core technological advantages constitute the primary mediating channels underlying this relationship. Furthermore, the promoting effect of innovation network centrality exhibits significant heterogeneity depending on firms’ functional roles within the industrial chain, their internal capability endowments, and the strength of regional innovation policy support. Further research indicates that the dual role of occupying core network positions and acting as a “chain leader” enables firms to bolster the resilience of industrial and supply chains.

By extending the implications of innovation network positioning to firms’ structural power within the broader industrial chain, this paper advances the theoretical understanding of innovation network effects. It offers practical guidance for firms aiming to rebuild competitive advantages along the industrial chain. Moreover, it provides a novel analytical framework for interpreting global value chain restructuring and industrial governance in the digital era. The exploration of heterogeneous effects of innovation network centrality, together with the identified positive role of innovation networks and chain leadership in enhancing supply chain resilience, deepens theoretical insights into the integration of innovation and industrial chains, and deli-vers strategic implications for building a more competitive and resilient modern industrial system.