The iron and steel industry is a crucial foundational industry in China and an important component of its industrial sector. Studying the specific pathways through which the digital economy drives the high-quality development of the iron and steel industry plays a significant role in promoting the transformation, upgrading, and achievement of high-quality development in the industry. This paper clarifies the connotation of high-quality development in the iron and steel industry, analyzes the mechanism by which the digital economy empowers such development, selects representative cases of digital transformation in iron and steel enterprises, further reveals how digital technologies enable these enterprises to break through traditional development bottlenecks, and proposes effective pathways for the digital economy to drive high-quality development in the iron and steel industry from aspects such as improving digital economy-related policies, enhancing capabilities for digital transformation and upgrading, and strengthening industrial collaboration and cooperation.