Using the quasi-natural event of the promotion of China’s intelligent manufacturing demonstration project, this paper takes China’s A-share listed manufacturing enterprises from 2011 to 2021 as the research sample, takes R&D efficiency as the explained variable, and dummy variable during the experimental period as the explanatory variable. With enterprise age, fixed capital density, cash flow, enterprise growth, asset-liability ratio, return on equity and enterprise size as control variables, propensity score matching and difference-in-differences model (PSM+DID) were used to empirically test the influence of intelligent manufacturing on R&D efficiency of manufacturing enterprises. The research results show that intelligent manufacturing can effectively improve the R&D efficiency of enterprises in pilot demonstration projects, forming a demonstration and promotion effect, and these benchmarking enterprises promote the high-quality development of China’s manufacturing industry. The empirical results enrich the research content of intelligent manufacturing, provide micro-evidence for China’s policy formulation and effect evaluation, and also put forward countermeasures and suggestions for improving the R&D efficiency of manufacturing enterprises, so as to promote the process of “intelligent manufacturing” in China.