diff --git a/.changeset/twelve-rabbits-draw.md b/.changeset/twelve-rabbits-draw.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..bfa33f39000
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/twelve-rabbits-draw.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"hardhat": patch
+---
+
+Optimize `hre.artifacts.artifactExists()`
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/artifacts/artifact-manager.ts b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/artifacts/artifact-manager.ts
index c13f5d46475..4000802ac0a 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/artifacts/artifact-manager.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/src/internal/builtin-plugins/artifacts/artifact-manager.ts
@@ -81,22 +81,16 @@ export class ArtifactManagerImplementation implements ArtifactManager {
   public async artifactExists(
     contractNameOrFullyQualifiedName: string,
   ): Promise<boolean> {
-    try {
-      // This throw if the artifact doesn't exist
-      await this.getArtifactPath(contractNameOrFullyQualifiedName);
-
-      return true;
-    } catch (error) {
-      if (HardhatError.isHardhatError(error)) {
-        if (
-          error.number === HardhatError.ERRORS.CORE.ARTIFACTS.NOT_FOUND.number
-        ) {
-          return false;
-        }
-      }
+    const { bareNameToFullyQualifiedNameMap, allFullyQualifiedNames } =
+      await this.#getFsData();
 
-      throw error;
+    if (this.#isFullyQualifiedName(contractNameOrFullyQualifiedName)) {
+      return allFullyQualifiedNames.has(contractNameOrFullyQualifiedName);
     }
+
+    return bareNameToFullyQualifiedNameMap.has(
+      contractNameOrFullyQualifiedName,
+    );
   }
 
   public async getBuildInfoId(
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/src/types/artifacts.ts b/packages/hardhat/src/types/artifacts.ts
index a569bfa96b7..88c966d3ba5 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/src/types/artifacts.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/src/types/artifacts.ts
@@ -89,11 +89,11 @@ export interface ArtifactManager {
   /**
    * Returns true if an artifact exists.
    *
-   * This function doesn't throw if the name is not unique.
+   * This function doesn't throw if the name is not unique, this means that
+   * this method may return `true`, and a successive call to `readArtifact` can
+   * throw because of a duplicated name.
    *
    * @param contractNameOrFullyQualifiedName Contract or fully qualified name.
-   * @throws Throws an error if a non-unique contract name is used,
-   *   indicating which fully qualified names can be used instead.
    */
   artifactExists(contractNameOrFullyQualifiedName: string): Promise<boolean>;
 
@@ -120,7 +120,8 @@ export interface ArtifactManager {
    * If it does return an id, it's not guaranteed that the build info is
    * present.
    *
-   * @param contractNameOrFullyQualifiedName Contract or fully qualified name, whose artifact must exist.
+   * @param contractNameOrFullyQualifiedName Contract or fully qualified name,
+   *  whose artifact must exist.
    * @throws Throws an error if a non-unique contract name is used,
    *   indicating which fully qualified names can be used instead.
    * @throws Throws an error if the artifact doesn't exist.
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/.gitignore b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/.gitignore
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..e7f801166c5
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/.gitignore
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+artifacts/
+cache/
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/contracts/a/Foo.sol b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/contracts/a/Foo.sol
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d4a18f04b6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/contracts/a/Foo.sol
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+pragma solidity ^0.8.0;
+
+contract Foo {
+  uint public x;
+}
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/contracts/b/Foo.sol b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/contracts/b/Foo.sol
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..d89bca11bbc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/contracts/b/Foo.sol
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
+pragma solidity ^0.8.0;
+
+contract Foo {
+  uint public y;
+}
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/hardhat.config.ts b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/hardhat.config.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..ff8b4c56321
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/hardhat.config.ts
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+export default {};
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/package.json b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/package.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..9e26dfeeb6e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/hardhat/test/fixture-projects/artifacts/duplicate-names-project/package.json
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/artifacts/artifact-manager.ts b/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/artifacts/artifact-manager.ts
index ea865630c94..aac877dbaf5 100644
--- a/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/artifacts/artifact-manager.ts
+++ b/packages/hardhat/test/internal/builtin-plugins/artifacts/artifact-manager.ts
@@ -105,4 +105,69 @@ describe("ArtifactManagerImplementation", () => {
       );
     });
   });
+
+  describe("artifactExists", () => {
+    it("should return true for an existing bare name", async () => {
+      const result = await artifactManager.artifactExists("Counter");
+      assert.equal(result, true);
+    });
+
+    it("should return true for an existing fully-qualified name", async () => {
+      const result = await artifactManager.artifactExists(
+        "contracts/Counter.sol:Counter",
+      );
+      assert.equal(result, true);
+    });
+
+    it("should return false for a missing bare name", async () => {
+      const result = await artifactManager.artifactExists("NonExistent");
+      assert.equal(result, false);
+    });
+
+    it("should return false for a missing fully-qualified name", async () => {
+      const result = await artifactManager.artifactExists(
+        "contracts/NonExistent.sol:NonExistent",
+      );
+      assert.equal(result, false);
+
+      const result2 = await artifactManager.artifactExists(
+        "contracts/Counter.sol:NonExistent",
+      );
+      assert.equal(result2, false);
+    });
+  });
+});
+
+describe("ArtifactManagerImplementation - duplicate bare names", () => {
+  useFixtureProject("artifacts/duplicate-names-project");
+
+  let hre: HardhatRuntimeEnvironment;
+  let artifactManager: ArtifactManagerImplementation;
+  before(async () => {
+    hre = await createHardhatRuntimeEnvironment({});
+
+    await hre.tasks.getTask(["build"]).run({});
+
+    artifactManager = new ArtifactManagerImplementation(
+      hre.config.paths.artifacts,
+    );
+  });
+
+  describe("artifactExists", () => {
+    it("should return true and not throw when multiple artifacts share the same bare name", async () => {
+      const result = await artifactManager.artifactExists("Foo");
+      assert.equal(result, true);
+    });
+
+    it("should return true for each fully-qualified name individually", async () => {
+      const resultA = await artifactManager.artifactExists(
+        "contracts/a/Foo.sol:Foo",
+      );
+      const resultB = await artifactManager.artifactExists(
+        "contracts/b/Foo.sol:Foo",
+      );
+      assert.equal(resultA, true);
+      assert.equal(resultB, true);
+    });
+  });
 });