Digital economy investment cooperation has gradually become an important force of global foreign direct investment，and plays a key role in the high-quality “going global” of digital economy. On the basis of theoretical analysis, this paper uses the CSMAR foreign direct investment database to empirically investigate Chinese enterprises’ foreign direct investment (OFDI) in the field of digital economy from 2012 to 2022, that is, the innovation behavior brought by enterprises’ “going out” in the digital economy，and explores the mechanism behind it with the help of the intermediary effect model. It is found that the digital economy “going out” can effectively improve the level of enterprise R&D investment and significantly promote enterprise innovation. This core conclusion is still stable after a series of tests. The mechanism test shows that enterprises’ OFDI in the field of digital economy mainly promotes their own innovation by improving their capabilities and reducing their costs. Heterogeneity analysis shows that enterprises’ OFDI in the field of digital economy has a more significant promoting effect on the innovation of core digital enterprises in the eastern region. The conclusions of this paper are of great significance to give full play to Chinese enterprises’ participation in global digital economy innovation cooperation, promote high-quality development of overseas investment cooperation in the field of digital economy, and better serve the construction of a new development pattern.