Driven by the wave of global digitalization and scientific and technological revolution, the digital economy has gradually become the new engine of urban economic development. New quality productive forces not only involve technological innovation but also cover multi-dimensional elements such as knowledge economy, information technology, and green low carbon. However, the existing literature mainly discusses the influence of the digital economy on new quality productive forces from the perspectives of technology diffusion and resource optimization and lacks empirical evidence centered on enterprises. Based on the data of China listed company database, Wind database, Guotai’an database, and China City Statistical Yearbook, this paper uses the methods of Wang Jue (2024) and Liu Jiamin (2024) to calculate the new quality productive forces level of enterprises. The empirical results show that the development of the urban digital economy has significantly improved the level of new quality productive forces of enterprises. After a series of robustness and endogenous tests, the conclusion is still robust. The mechanism analysis shows that the development of the urban digital economy has effectively promoted the improvement of new quality productive forces of enterprises by improving the efficiency mechanism of enterprise technological innovation, expanding the mechanism of enterprise knowledge network, and upgrading the mechanism of urban human capital. Further heterogeneity analysis shows that the development of the urban digital economy plays a more obvious role in improving the new quality productive forces levels of non-state-owned enterprises, high-tech enterprises, and enterprises of industries with higher market competition. Compared with previous literature, this study expands on two key aspects. First, it explores the factors influencing the development of corporate new quality productive forces from the perspective of urban digital economy development, contributing to a deeper understanding of the important role of the digital economy in enhancing the level of new quality productive forces. Second, based on three dimensions—laborers, labor materials, and labor objects—this study systematically analyzes the multi-pathway impact of urban digital economy development on corporate new quality productive forces. In addition, through heterogeneity analysis, this study reveals the differentiated impact of urban digital economy development on different types of enterprises, providing more targeted and scientifically grounded policy recommendations for governments and decision-makers when formulating digital economy policies tailored to various types of enterprises. Based on the research results of this paper, the following policy suggestions are put forward. The government should promote the construction of an urban digital economy cooperation platform, promote the research and development and application of cutting-edge technologies, and then improve the level of new quality productive forces of enterprises; the government should support high-tech enterprises to play a leading role and promote small and medium-sized enterprises to improve the level of new quality productive forces through technology transfer and industrial cooperation.