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Livestock grazing is a key factor influencing structure, functioning and stability of grassland ecosystems. However, the effects of grazing intensity on the temporal stability of plant community aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) and the driving mechanisms remain poorly understood in typical steppe ecosystems. In a 6-year experimental study, we investigated how varying grazing intensities (light, moderate, heavy, and no grazing) affect the temporal stability of ANPP in plant communities and functional groups. Our findings revealed that both plant community ANPP and species richness increased significantly under all grazing intensities. Moderate and heavy grazing also led to a significant reduction in the temporal stability of ANPP of community and dominant species. Structural equation modelling further identified species asynchrony as the primary driver of community productivity stability across different grazing intensities in semi-arid grasslands.