Abstract: The two-way FDI“targeted”industrial design can effectively solve the problem of the out-migration of the low-end industrial chains into the developing countries and the back-flow of the high-end industrial chains into the developed countries, further promoting the“core chains”status of our country’s“bottleneck”industrial chains. From the perspective of targeted investment, this paper uses the data from the Guotaian database, the historical OFDI statistical bulletins, the reports of foreign direct investments and the input-output tables from 2000 to 2022 to empirically study the internal relation between the two-way FDI and the status of the“core chains”of the“bottleneck”industry chains. The following conclusions are drawn: firstly, the internal and external linkages of the two-way FDI and the technology spillover of the“targeted”FDI have significantly enhanced the“core chain”status of the“bottleneck”industry chains; secondly, industry heterogeneity exists in the strength of the two-way FDI enhancing the“core chains”status of the“bottleneck”industry chain, with the strongest effect in the aircraft engine nacelle and the weakest in the lithography machine; thirdly, regional heterogeneity exists in the strength of the two-way FDI enhancing the“core chains”status of the “bottleneck”industry chain, with the strongest effect in the eastern coastal region and the weakest in the northwestern region; fourthly, temporal heterogeneity exists in the function of the two-way FDI in enhancing the status of the“core chains”of the“bottleneck”industrial chains, which is manifested by significant differences at the five periods. Accordingly, this paper proposes the following countermeasures and suggestions: increasing support for two-way direct investment, setting targeted objects for two-way direct investment, fully leveraging the advantages of the strategy of strengthening the nation through human resource development and the new nationwide system, and further enhancing the core chain position of China’s“bottleneck”industrial chain.

Key words: foreign direct investment, outward foreign direct investment, “bottleneck”industrial chain, industrial chain centrality