Santa Clara: TECHz – News Desk
In a move designed to address an increasingly complex global threat landscape, Intel Corporation and Fortinet have announced a strategic collaboration to develop the next generation of custom cybersecurity silicon: the Fortinet Security Processor 6 (SP6).
The partnership deepens a long-standing relationship between the two tech companies, merging Fortinet’s two decades of expertise in application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) with Intel’s semiconductor design, packaging, and manufacturing capabilities. The core objective of the collaboration is to build a highly integrated security processor capable of handling the massive performance requirements of modern organizations, particularly as they manage encrypted traffic and AI-enabled workloads.
Intel will contribute its broad portfolio of ecosystem intellectual property, its methods in disaggregated semiconductor design, and its advanced packaging solutions. This hardware foundation will empower Fortinet to push the boundaries of its proprietary ASIC strategy, which has historically allowed its firewalls and network security appliances to outperform standard general-purpose CPUs in speed and power efficiency. Both companies emphasized that modern security infrastructure requires unprecedented scale and innovation to keep pace with sophisticated cyber threats.
“As organizations face a rapidly evolving threat landscape, security infrastructure must deliver both performance and innovation at scale,” stated Lip-Bu Tan, CEO of Intel. “This collaboration demonstrates how Intel’s semiconductor leadership and advanced design, packaging, and manufacturing capabilities can help cybersecurity leaders like Fortinet accelerate the development of critical security technologies while building a more resilient and diversified global supply chain.”
Ken Xie, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Fortinet, highlighted the historical importance of custom silicon to their product line. “Fortinet’s purpose-built ASICs have been a key differentiator for more than two decades, enabling us to deliver the security effectiveness, performance, and efficiency our customers demand,” Xie said. “This expanded relationship with Intel will leverage its unique combination of advanced semiconductor technology, manufacturing expertise, and global supply chain capabilities, helping Fortinet accelerate and strengthen our ASIC strategy, while also better supporting organizations all over the world.”
Beyond performance enhancements, the partnership is strategically positioned to improve the resilience and diversity of Fortinet’s global supply chain. By utilizing Intel’s extensive manufacturing footprint, Fortinet aims to secure stronger supply chain assurances for its worldwide customer base. The companies also confirmed they will explore further joint ventures in semiconductor technology, manufacturing, and the underlying infrastructure necessary for future cybersecurity developments.
