This study explores how Chinese manufacturing enterprises build export resilience through digital transformation. It examines the interaction between external factors such as global trade fragmentation, market uncertainty, and technological change and internal capability reconfiguration. The study addresses a gap by proposing and applying the Policy–Technology–Organisation (PTO) tri-helix framework in a state-led policy context. First, the paper reviews existing research on digital transformation and export resilience. It finds that most Western literature focuses on market-driven and technology-determinist views and pays less attention to mechanisms under state-led policies. Therefore, the study aims to contextualise the process of resilience formation in Chinese manufacturing firms.