Abstract: In the context of globalization and the knowledge economy, collaborative innovation has emerged as a critical pathway for enterprises to accelerate new product development and enhance competitiveness. However, existing research on this topic exhibits three primary gaps. First, while much of the literature focuses on the value creation process jointly achieved by firms and external partners, insufficient attention has been paid to value capture in collaborative innovation. In particular, prior studies have overlooked the differential effects of the breadth and depth of collaborative innovation on a firm’s ability to profit from innovation. Second, current research often treats innovation appropriability as a unitary construct, neglecting the distinct temporal focuses and antecedent factors of primary appropriability and generative appropriability. Given the conceptual complexity of innovation appropriability, further exploration of its antecedents and boundary conditions is warranted. Third, although collaborative innovation emphasizes knowledge flow and sharing across organizational boundaries, the role of a firm’s knowledge base in facilitating value capture from collaborative innovation remains underexplored. To address these gaps, this study investigates the following research questions: How do different dimensions of collaborative innovation influence a firm’s value appropriability? How does a firm’s knowledge base moderate this relationship? Using a sample of listed companies in the computer, communications, and electronic equipment manufacturing sectors, we conduct empirical analyses to these questions. Our findings indicate that both the depth and breadth of collaborative innovation have significant negative effects on primary appropriability but significant positive effects on generative appropriability. Furthermore, this study reveals that when the scale of a firm’s knowledge base is large, it can mitigate the negative effect of collaborative innovation on primary appropriability, while attenuating its positive effect on generative appropriability effect. Besides, a broad knowledge base enhances the positive impact of collaborative innovation on generative appropriability. This study has several theoretical and practical contributions. Firstly, it echoes scholars’ discussions on value capture of emerging-economy firms and clarifies the asymmetric effects of collaborative innovation on primary versus generative appropriability. By doing so, this study overcomes the limitation of prior research that treated innovation appropriability as a unitary construct, thereby advancing the integration of innovation appropriability and collaborative innovation literatures. Secondly, this study contributes to the literature by examining the relationship between collaborative innovation and firm performance from an integrative perspective—considering both the direction of knowledge flows during collaboration and the characteristics of a firm’s accumulated knowledge base. By elucidating how knowledge base attributes influence the link between collaborative innovation and appropriability, this research expands understanding of the antecedents and boundary conditions of innovation appropriability. Regarding to practical implications, while collaborative innovation can significantly enhance a firm’s innovation efficiency, firms should recognize the distinct roles of the breadth and depth of collaboration. To strengthen their innovation appropriability, firms must develop capabilities to acquire, assimilate, and exploit external knowledge, thereby facilitating the capture of generative value from innovation iterations. Furthermore, when selecting collaborative innovation strategies, firms should align their approach with the characteristics of their knowledge base. If a firm possesses a large-scale knowledge base, it can extract immediate returns from current collaborative outcomes; if a firms owns a broader knowledge base, it can to ensure sustained gains through leveraging iterative innovation in the future. Overall, this study can provide high-tech enterprises with theoretical guidance on effectively capturing value in collaborative innovation settings. Additionally, it seeks to enhance understanding of the value creation-appropriability paradox and promote a dynamic balance between the two.