Intel to manufacture firewall chips for Fortinet, its first public foundry customer
Intel Corp. today announced that it will produce processors for Fortinet Inc. firewalls.
The deal marks a major milestone for the chipmaker’s foundry business. The unit, which makes processors for other companies based on their custom designs, is at the center of Intel’s long-term growth strategy. Fortinet is the first foundry customer that the chipmaker has publicly named.
Nasdaq-listed Fortinet is a major supplier of data center firewall appliances. Its systems scan network traffic for malware, attempts to move sensitive data to external servers and other threats. The firewalls also enable workers to remotely log into business applications via virtual private network connections.
Fortinet’s newest appliances are powered by a custom chip called the SP5. It combines two Arm-based central processing unit cores with circuits optimized for networking and cybersecurity tasks. Intel will help Fortinet design and manufacture the successor to the SP5, which will aptly be called the SP6.
