Based on the perspective of green technology innovation, this paper takes listed companies in China’s manufacturing industry from 2012 to 2022 as the research sample, and adopts the Driscoll-Kraay standard error method to explore the relationship between intelligent manufacturing and the high-quality development of the manufacturing industry. The results show that intelligent manufacturing can promote high-quality development of manufacturing industry Green technology innovation plays an mediating role in the above relationship. The above findings still hold after considering robustness tests and endogeneity treatments. Heterogeneity analysis indicates the application of intelligent manufacturing in state-owned enterprises, CEO separately enterprises and heavily polluting industries has a stronger role in promoting the development of manufacturing industry. This paper complements the existing research results on intelligent manufacturing and also establishes a realistic path for the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry.