A new microwave link rain intensity inversion method was proposed based on the exponential rain cell rain attenuation model to improve the accuracy of rain intensity inversion. Using measured data from 21 microwave links and 8 rainfall stations within 2 km from the links in Gothenburg, Sweden, rain intensity inversion results of the exponential rain cell rain attenuation model were compared with those of the traditional power-law model and ITU-R P.530-16 rain attenuation model. The results show that the exponential rain cell rain attenuation model performed excellently in rain intensity inversion, with both the determination coefficient and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient being 0.78, the mean absolute error being 0.39mm/h, and the root-mean-square error being 0.68 mm/h. The exponential rain cell rain attenuation model has a significant improvement in accuracy and stability compared to the power-law model, and also has an improvement compared to the ITU-R P.530-16 rain attenuation model, especially in rain intensity inversion of short links and small to medium rainfalls. It is also demonstrated that the exponential rain cell rain attenuation model is valuable for further enhancing the accuracy of microwave link rain intensity inversion and improving the effectiveness of precipitation monitoring.