Based on resource managing theory, this paper identifies 1978 listed companies from 2008 to 2019 as advanced manufacturing samples, and takes the proportion of R&D funds in the year of cross-border M&A as intermediary variable to distinguish the positive and negative effects of cross-border M&A on total factor productivity (TFP). It is found that in the next three years after the transaction, companies’ TFP will be negatively affected by the M&A itself and positively affected by the increase of R&D funds raised along with the transaction in the same year, and they appear to cancel each other out. Furthermore, with quantile regression analysis, it is also found that in higher productivity group, the TFP of advanced manufacturing enterprises is more likely to gain a growth through a cross-border M&A than non-advanced ones. Such resultcoordinate the differences in the current research and demonstrate a coexistence of transaction risk and technology benefit in cross-border M&A of advanced manufacturing enterprises.