Abstract: As the main engine of industrial development, the digital economy exerts a significant driving effect on industrial leapfrogging. To investigate whether and how the digital economy promotes industrial leapfrogging, this study conducted an in-depth analysis using data from 30 provincial regions in China from 2011 to 2021. The research findings indicate that the digital economy significantly propels industrial leapfrogging, with industrial digitization making a more significant contribution. Simultaneously, both industrial digitization and digital industrialization exhibit an "inverted U-shaped" trend associated with industrial leapfrogging. In addition, through a threshold model, this paper finds that grasping the scale of industrial agglomeration plays a crucial role in the process of digital economy driving industrial leapfrogging. This study deepens the understanding of the factors of industrial leapfrogging and the effects and mechanisms of the digital economy on industrial development, highlights the importance of the quality of technological innovation and industrial ecology, and provides both a theoretical basis and empirical support for government policy-making in the development of the digital economy.