Fortinet picks Intel Foundry for next security processor

Fortinet said Tuesday it will use Intel Foundry to manufacture its sixth-generation Security Processor, the SP6, with financial terms, production timing and performance specifications left undisclosed. The order gives Intel’s contract manufacturing business a named commercial customer in security hardware, a category where supply chain control and specialized silicon both matter.

The SP6 is designed for security and cryptographic workloads in hardware firewalls, according to Fortinet. The company has long used its own application-specific integrated circuits in appliances, while many security hardware vendors build around off-the-shelf x86 or Arm processors. Fortinet’s Security Processor line is aimed at smaller appliances such as SD-WAN gateways, rather than larger data-center systems that use its NP and CP series chips.

Neither company said when SP6 will enter production or when customers should expect systems based on the chip. Intel said availability details would be announced later. Fortinet also did not disclose throughput, power, packaging or product SKUs tied to the processor.

The most relevant comparison available is Fortinet’s SP5, introduced in 2023. Fortinet said that chip supported Layer 7 firewalling and IPsec VPN throughput above 30 Gbps. The company said performance dropped with advanced threat protection or SSL inspection enabled, to 4.3 Gbps and 3.3 Gbps, respectively.

Intel said SP6 will be built on Intel 4, rather than its newer 18A process. Intel also pointed to its work in disaggregated semiconductor design and advanced packaging, though it declined to specify which technologies the Fortinet chip will use beyond Intel 4. That leaves open whether SP6 uses chiplets or a more conventional design.

The choice is still useful for Intel’s foundry pitch. The company is trying to move from mostly manufacturing its own processors to serving outside customers in a market dominated by TSMC and Samsung. A Fortinet win does not by itself change that competitive position, especially since the part is not being made on Intel’s leading node. It does give Intel another example of a customer choosing U.S.-based manufacturing for a workload tied to security infrastructure.

Intel has been pressing the supply-chain-security angle as governments and enterprise buyers reassess where sensitive chips are made. In mid-2024, the U.S. government awarded Intel $3 billion to create a secure manufacturing enclave for chips used by government agencies. The U.S. government has since taken a 9.9% stake in Intel.

Fortinet is also not the first sensitive-workload customer cited around Intel manufacturing. Under DARPA’s HIVE program, Intel built an eight-core, 528-thread processor with 1 TB/s silicon-photonics interconnects for graph analytics acceleration.

U.S. production does not automatically mean the most advanced process available. TSMC’s first Arizona fab has started producing 4 nm silicon, and Samsung plans to bring its Texas fab online this year. For Fortinet, Intel Foundry appears to be offering domestic manufacturing and packaging experience, while the companies have held back the details needed to judge SP6 against prior Fortinet silicon or competing firewall appliances.

This story draws on original reporting from The Register.