"Details regarding the Fortinet Security Processor 6 availability will be announced at a later date," Intel said — a cautious line that masks a concrete shift: Fortinet told reporters on Tuesday it will use Intel Foundry to fabricate its sixth‑generation Security Processor (SP6).
Fortinet bets custom ASICs on Intel Foundry
Fortinet confirmed on Tuesday that its next Security Processor, SP6, will be produced by Intel Foundry. The SP line consists of custom application‑specific integrated circuits (ASICs) that Fortinet uses to accelerate security and cryptographic operations in hardware firewalls; Fortinet prefers this approach rather than building appliances around commodity x86 or Arm CPUs. The SP family is designed primarily for smaller appliances such as SD‑WAN gateways rather than the larger datacenter‑focused NP and CP series.
The company and Intel have not disclosed when SP6 will enter production or the chip’s performance characteristics. For context, Fortinet’s prior SP5, launched in 2023, provided layer‑7 firewalling and IPsec VPN connectivity at speeds exceeding 30 Gbps, and delivered 4.3 Gbps and 3.3 Gbps respectively when advanced threat protection or SSL inspection were enabled.
Intel 4 process node, American fab, and packaging hints
Intel told reporters SP6 will be manufactured on the Intel 4 process node rather than on the bleeding‑edge 18A node. The companies also signaled that Fortinet may draw on Intel’s disaggregated semiconductor design and advanced packaging experience — language that could imply a chiplet architecture intended to improve scalability — though Intel declined to enumerate which specific technologies beyond Intel 4 the chip will employ.
Intel additionally emphasized that SP6 will be built "in an American fab by an American company," a fact the source framed as offering a degree of supply‑chain security. Intel declined to comment on product availability beyond the statement that information would be announced later.
Supply‑chain security and the commercial foundry pitch
The deal surfaces amid Intel’s broader push to compete as a commercial foundry. The source notes that U.S. government support has played a role in that repositioning: in mid‑2024 the U.S. awarded Intel $3 billion to establish a secure enclave for manufacturing chips for government agencies and subsequently took a 9.9 percent stake in the company. Intel has positioned U.S.‑based production as a way to provide secure supply chains, even if that sometimes means using less advanced process nodes.
The report also observed that for "even remotely leading‑edge silicon" the primary options remain Intel, Samsung, and TSMC, while noting that TSMC’s first Arizona fab has begun producing 4 nm silicon and Samsung targets bringing a Texas plant online within the year.
DARPA HIVE as a precedent for sensitive workloads
Fortinet is not the first non‑Intel business to turn to Intel’s factories for sensitive or bespoke designs. The source cites DARPA’s HIVE program, under which Intel built an eight‑core, 528‑thread processor featuring 1 TB/s silicon‑photonics interconnects specifically to accelerate graph analytics workloads. That prior work is presented in the report as an example of Intel executing tailored manufacturing for specialized customers and mission‑critical workloads.
What this means for technologists, procurement leaders, and policymakers
- Technologists and security teams: Expect Fortinet to continue embedding dedicated accelerators for security and cryptography in its appliances; SP6 is positioned for smaller appliances such as SD‑WAN gateways, where ASIC acceleration matters for throughput when advanced features are enabled.
- Procurement and enterprise buyers: The chips will be built in a U.S. fab, a selling point for organizations prioritizing supply‑chain provenance, but the use of Intel 4 rather than the latest nodes highlights a performance versus provenance tradeoff enterprises may need to weigh.
- Policymakers and regulators: The arrangement illustrates how government incentives and investments have factored into commercial foundry activity and the emergence of U.S.‑based manufacturing options for sensitive semiconductor work.
Fortinet’s commitment to Intel Foundry is a tangible endorsement for Intel’s foundry ambitions and a signal that at least some security appliance vendors will trade absolute cutting‑edge process leadership for domestically produced, purpose‑built silicon. The unanswered technical and timing details — when SP6 will ship and how it will compare in the field to SP5 under real‑world inspection loads — remain to be disclosed by the companies.
