Intel to co-develop and manufacture Fortinet’s next-gen firewall ASIC on Intel 4 — node gets its first named external customer

Intel and Fortinet have announced a strategic collaboration to develop the Fortinet Security Processor 6 (SP6), the next generation of the custom silicon behind Fortinet’s FortiGate firewalls. Intel will contribute chip design, advanced packaging, and manufacturing to the SP6 program, making Fortinet the first cybersecurity vendor named as an Intel silicon customer.

Intel told Tom’s Hardware that SP6 will be built on Intel 4, the EUV process the company has so far used only for its own products, making Fortinet both the first cybersecurity vendor named as an Intel silicon customer and the first named external customer for the node. However, the announcement specifies no production timeline, and it comes in the same Q3-Q4 2026 window in which CEO Lip-Bu Tan said the company expects commitments from multiple foundry customers.

SP6 will draw on what the companies described as Intel’s expertise in disaggregated semiconductor design and advanced packaging tailored for both AI-enabled and cost-sensitive applications.

That points to a chiplet-based part, which would be a departure from the current SP5, a monolithic 7nm Arm-based SoC that Fortinet launched in 2023 for its entry-level and mid-range FortiGate appliances. The deal will help Fortinet “accelerate and strengthen our ASIC strategy,” said Ken Xie, founder, chairman, and CEO of Fortinet, in the announcement.

Intel 4 was the company’s first process node to use EUV lithography and entered high-volume manufacturing at Fab 34 in Ireland in September 2023, where it produces the compute tile for Meteor Lake-based Core Ultra chips. The node didn’t appear among the processes Intel listed for external foundry customers in its fiscal year 2024 annual report, which named 18A, Intel 3, Intel 7, Intel 16, and a 12nm process co-developed with UMC. Intel said the SP6 work reflects plans it laid out for Intel 4 several years ago, including support for custom networking ASIC workloads.

Microsoft agreed in early 2024 to build an unnamed custom chip on Intel’s 1.8nm-class 18A node, a deal that reportedly covers a next-generation Maia AI processor. That announcement followed a similar pattern, with no product details, node variant, or timeline at signing and specifics emerging over the following 18 months.

Intel CFO David Zinsner said in March that the company was fielding inbound interest in 18A-P from prospective foundry customers as yields improved, and Tan told CNBC in May that foundry commitments were expected in the second half of 2026.

Fortinet does bring real volume, though, if not marquee volume. IDC ranked Fortinet first in firewall appliances shipped as of early 2023, with a 48% unit share. The company ships its own ASICs across its entry-level and high-end FortiGate ranges, and SP6 extends a silicon program now in its sixth generation.

Neither company committed to work beyond SP6, though the release described the agreement as a starting point, with further collaboration on chip technology and manufacturing under discussion.