The work aims to investigate the effect of residual stress on bonding strength of MoSi2 coating. Based on the microstructure and phase composition of MoSi2 coating prepared by packing cementation (PC) before and after annealing, the corresponding finite element analysis model was established to calculate the residual stress of the coating before and after annealing. According to the variation of the normal and tangential residual stress of the coating with the thickness of the coating, the influence of the residual stress on the bonding strength of the coating was studied by the change of the bonding strength before and after annealing with coating thickness. The results of finite element simulation showed that the normal residual stress of coating decreased with the increase of coating thickness. The tangential residual stress of coating formed a stress concentration at the edge of coating interface, and the maximum tangential residual stress increased with the increase of coating thickness, which was consistent with the change trend of coating bonding strength. In addition, the normal residual stress of MoSi2 coating barely changed after annealing, but the maximum tangential residual stress decreased by about 10%, and the coating bonding strength increased by about 20%. The bonding strength of MoSi2 coating prepared by packing cementation (PC) is affected by tangential residual stress. The increase of tangential residual stress of coating leads to the decrease of bond strength of coating. Annealing treatment can greatly improve the tangential residual stress concentration at the interface of coating, and it has obvious effect on improving the bonding strength of coating.