Intel 4 foundry records first major customer win with Fortinet's Security Processor 6 (SP6), validating Intel foundry business model for enterprise ASIC design.

Intel will design, package, and fabricate Fortinet's sixth-generation Security Processor (SP6) on its Intel 4 node, the companies announced on July 21, marking the process node's first named external foundry customer roughly three years after entering production. Intel told Tom's Hardware the agreement reflects "the strategy Intel outlined for Intel 4 several years ago," including support for custom networking ASIC workloads. Intel's historical record, however, tells a different story: the company's 2021 roadmap had scoped Intel 4 to two internal products only, and through 2022, it stated that Intel 3—not Intel 4—would be its first foundry offering.

Intel's July 2021 Accelerated announcement projected Intel 4 reaching production readiness in the second half of 2022 for 2023 product launches, naming only Meteor Lake for client and Granite Rapids for data center. Neither that release nor its accompanying fact sheet mentioned foundry customers, networking, or custom ASICs. At VLSI 2022, Intel disclosed it wasn't building a high-density library for Intel 4 and that Intel 3 would be the first new node offered through Intel Foundry Services. Intel's own 2024 annual report listed available external processes as 18A, Intel 3, Intel 7, Intel 16, and a 12nm node co-developed with UMC—Intel 4 appeared nowhere.

Ericsson's RAN Compute processors, announced in November 2023, were built on Intel 4, making them the first third-party silicon from the node, but that work emerged from a bespoke collaboration with a formal foundry agreement covering 18A. Fortinet is the first named customer purchasing Intel 4 as a foundry service and the first cybersecurity vendor on any Intel node. The Ericsson engagement also represents the closest public precedent for networking silicon on Intel 4, appearing roughly two years after the strategy Intel now claims to have outlined for the node.

Intel 4 entered high-volume manufacturing at Fab 34 in Leixlip, Ireland, in September 2023, producing the compute tile for Meteor Lake-based Core Ultra chips. The facility shares the fab with Intel 3. Intel sold a 49% stake to Apollo-managed funds for $11.2 billion in June 2024, then repurchased it in April 2026 for $14.2 billion—$7.7 billion in cash plus $6.5 billion in new debt. The buyback returned 100% of Fab 34's wafer economics to Intel at a 27% premium, a calculation that only works if the fab's EUV capacity remains fully loaded.

As Meteor Lake ages out of Intel's lineup and 18A-based Panther Lake ramps through 2026, Intel 4's capacity presents an open question. A multi-generation firewall ASIC program provides a logical answer: mature yields, a customer prioritizing supply stability over cutting-edge density, and a part Intel positioned for cost-sensitive applications. The company indicated in April that yields were improving across Intel 4, Intel 3, and 18A.

Fortinet's 2025 annual report lists Renesas and Toshiba America as contract manufacturers for its ASICs, using foundries in Taiwan and Japan operated by TSMC or the manufacturers themselves. The current SP5—a monolithic 7nm Arm-based SoC announced in February 2023—sits within that supply chain. SP6 on Intel 4 moves Fortinet's next flagship security processor out of TSMC-linked manufacturing and into Intel's. The disaggregated design language in the announcement suggests a chiplet-based architecture, a first for Fortinet's SP line.

Fortinet re-engineered three FortiGate models—the 70F, 600F, and 3700F—in 2022 to accept alternative components during the chip shortage. CMO John Maddison told SDxCentral at the time the company wouldn't wait for delayed deliveries in 2023. That experience informs the "resilient and diversified" supply chain highlighted in the SP6 announcement. CEO Ken Xie called Fortinet "the #1 firewall leader with a 55% unit market share" in the company's February 2025 results, with approximately six million FortiGates deployed—substantial volume despite the relatively modest cost per part.

Intel Foundry reported $307 million in external revenue for 2025, up from $159 million the prior year, against total foundry revenue of $17.8 billion and an operating loss of $10.3 billion. External revenue in Q1 2026 reached $174 million. Fortinet's hardware business represents roughly 30% of its revenue; according to ServeTheHome analysis, SP6 is ultimately a component within a portion of an annual hardware stream around $2 billion. Even at full production, this deal won't materially move Intel's foundry line.

CEO Lip-Bu Tan told CNBC in May he expected foundry customer commitments in the second half of 2026. Intel told investors in January that two prospective customers were evaluating 14A test chips. The SP6 announcement lands within Tan's stated window, finally giving Intel foundry marketing a named customer shipping volume on a node with mature yields. A commitment from a major external customer for 18A or 14A remains absent, however, and cost-sensitive parts on a 2023-era node don't substitute for that win.