Intel and Fortinet announced a strategic collaboration on July 21 to co-develop the Fortinet Security Processor 6 (SP6) — the next generation of the custom ASIC that sits inside FortiGate firewalls, succeeding the Arm-based SP5.
Which "first" this actually is
Intel Foundry already has named external customers — Microsoft and Amazon, both signed in 2024 under Pat Gelsinger. What is new here is narrower and still meaningful: Fortinet is the first named external customer for the Intel 4 node, the first named cybersecurity customer, and the first named foundry customer under chief executive Lip-Bu Tan, who took the job in March 2025. The node identification comes from press reporting; Intel's own release never names it.
Not the node Intel needs to sell
Intel 4 is an EUV process that debuted in 2022 and has until now been used only for Intel's own products. It is not 18A or 14A — the leading-edge nodes Intel has been trying for two years to land a marquee customer on. Foundry external revenue was $174 million last quarter, and Intel said in an April filing it was still working to secure a "significant" customer for its most advanced process.
What each side brings
Intel contributes chip design, ecosystem IP, disaggregated design expertise, advanced packaging and manufacturing; Fortinet brings the purpose-built security-processor architecture it has built its hardware business on. Tan called it proof that Intel can help "cybersecurity leaders like Fortinet accelerate the development of critical security technologies while building a more resilient and diversified global supply chain." Fortinet founder and CEO Ken Xie said the expanded relationship would "accelerate and strengthen our ASIC strategy."
What was not disclosed
No timeline, tape-out date, wafer volume or contract value. Both sides stress this expands a long-standing relationship rather than starting one.