The seventh seed won a brilliant match with a 4-6 6-4 6-4 victory to set up a showdown in the final with Rafael Nadal.
The world number one hadn't been defeated since the Paris Masters in October last year when American Sam Querrey dumped him out of the tournament.
Nadal defeated Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-7 in Indian Wells to reach his first hard-court final in a year.
After the match Del Potro said: "I was so close to losing but I got lucky in very important moments, very important points when I made fantastic winners on my forehands. It was my best match in this tournament, for sure."
Del Potro gamely saw off six break points in the first 10 games before the pressure finally told and he framed one of those huge forehand swings, giving the set to the Serb.
But just as he had done against Murray in the quarter-finals, Del Potro raised his game as the match progressed and began to dominate Djokovic with a combination of bludgeoning forehands and measured backhand slices.
With the afternoon temperature soaring in the desert, a bewildered Djokovic was broken three times to lose only his second set of the week.
And the Serb's unbeaten run was under real threat in the decider when Del Potro came roaring back from 0-3, earning two more break points at 3-3 and converting again at 4-4 when Djokovic simply could hot handle the pace coming at him.
Del Potro had won the last six games against Murray, and when he cracked a huge ace out wide on match point he finished off Djokovic by taking six of the last seven games.
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