Intel foundry lands Fortinet as first customer for security chips

While Intel continues to pursue a marquee customer for its foundry services, the chipmaker has landed a notable client from the cybersecurity space.

Fortinet will use Intel’s foundry to produce its next-generation security chip, the two companies announced Tuesday, marking a win for Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took over the company in March 2025. Fortinet’s chip, SP6, will be manufactured on the Intel 4 process, an Intel representative told CNBC.

Intel said in a filing in April that it’s still trying to secure a “significant” customer for the company’s most advanced manufacturing technology, as it tries to justify the large capital expenditures needed to build factories in the U.S. and overseas.

The company’s leading processes designed to manufacture computer processors are known as 14A and 18A. Intel 4 is older manufacturing technology that’s less advanced and was established for simpler chips called ASICs for networking.

Tan told CNBC’s Jim Cramer in May that “multiple customers” were working with Intel’s foundry, but he also said that it’s his personal policy not to disclose their names. A major customer announcement would increase confidence among chip designers and investors that Intel is capable of building the most advanced chips in large quantities.

So far, Intel’s biggest confirmed customer for its foundry is itself. The U.S. government is also using the foundry to make chips for defense. Under Pat Gelsinger, Intel’s previous CEO, Microsoft announced a partnership with the chipmaker to manufacture an unspecified processor in 2024, and Amazon said later that year it would use Intel to build a custom artificial intelligence chip, but those announcements were for relatively low-volume chips.

In April, Intel said it would help design an ASIC with Google that it calls an infrastructure processing unit. Intel is also helping Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX build a chip factory called Terafab. And President Donald Trump said in June that Apple would use Intel to manufacture chips in the U.S., but neither company has officially confirmed a deal. The U.S. government took a 10% stake in Intel in August, sparking a rally that’s lifted the chipmaker’s stock price by more than 300% in the past year.

Intel is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Thursday after the bell.

Fortinet doesn’t have the name recognition of Apple, Tesla or any of the hyperscalers, but it’s operating in a hot market due to the heightened demand for advanced security in a world increasingly dominated by AI. Fortinet’s stock price has more than doubled this year, and the company said on its last earnings call in May that it would keep in investing in its ASIC technology.

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