Digital technology, as a crucial driver for building a modernized economic system in China, not only fosters innovation-driven and high-quality development for enterprises, but also enhances the core competitiveness of China’s digital economy. In the current era of high-level opening up, domestic circulation, and dual circulation of domestic and international markets, leveraging digital technology to improve the export product quality of Chinese enterprises is critical for high-quality development and new competitive advantage construction. The study innovatively measures the export product quality of enterprises across five highly segmented dimensions from 2004 to 2014 using data from Chinese industrial enterprises and customs databases. Based on these measurements, it assesses the quality catch-up of export products. By identifying digital technology through digital patents, it analyzes the micro-effect of digital technology innovation on the quality catch-up of export products using a theoretical model. The findings indicate that digital technology innovation significantly shortens the quality gap between similar export products, leading to a leap in export product quality. Mechanism testing shows that digital technology innovation facilitates the quality catch-up of export products through frontier technology catch-up, technology spillovers, independent innovation breakthroughs, and product category leaps. This discovery highlights the utility of digital technology innovation in enhancing the export product quality of enterprises. Knowledge protection in R&D and improvements in digital efficiency contribute to the effectiveness of digital technology, while capital- and technology-intensive characteristics in production and general trade positively affect the role of digital technology. Additionally, developed destination markets show a more pronounced effect of digital technology on the quality improvement and catch-up of export products. This paper provides theoretical support for exploring the application and benefits of digital technology, demonstrating that digital technology innovation can promote the quality catch-up of Chinese export products. It also offers strategic insights for Chinese enterprises to enhance export product quality and upgrade their value chains. Furthermore, this paper provides theoretical support and valuable implications for achieving higher-level opening up and promoting the deep integration of the digital economy and the real economy.