The digital economy has become a significant engine for economic development, providing crucial momentum for the development of new quality productive forces. It is of great practical significance to delve into the pathways through which the digital economy empowers the enhancement of new quality productive forces. Based on the three dimensions of informatization, the internet, and digital transactions, an evaluation index system for the digital economy has been constructed. Using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method, the impact and enhancement pathways of the digital economy on new quality productive forces from a configurational perspective were explored. The research finds that the digital economy empowers the development of new quality productive forces through three configurational pathways: the informatization impact-digital transaction impact-driven type, the informatization impact-digital transaction foundation-driven type, and the informatization-internet-digital transaction leadership type. Accordingly, it's demonstrated a valuble path that regions should leverage their unique advantages and resource endowments, fully recognize the synergistic interactions among variables, optimize the allocation of various elements, and collaboratively drive the development of the digital economy. This will enable high-quality empowerment of new quality productive forces and jointly promote the advancement of the regional digital economy and the enhancement of new quality productive forces.