Intel Foundry secures Fortinet as its first named corporate client under new CEO

Intel Foundry has been trying to convince the world it belongs in the same conversation as TSMC. On July 21, it got its clearest piece of evidence yet: a manufacturing partnership with Fortinet, the cybersecurity hardware giant, to produce a next-generation security chip using Intel’s foundry services. The deal makes Fortinet the first named corporate customer for Intel Foundry under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, who took the top job in March 2025. Why this deal is a bigger signal than it looks The chip in question will be built on Intel’s foundry processes, with Intel’s 18A node currently in production and its 14A technology slated for later this decade. Fortinet producing a security-focused chip on leading-edge silicon puts Intel’s process technology directly into one of the fastest-growing segments of enterprise hardware. Fortinet isn’t Intel Foundry’s only recent win The Fortinet announcement lands alongside existing momentum from Microsoft, which previously disclosed plans to develop a custom chip design using Intel’s 18A process. Two named clients from two different verticals, cybersecurity and cloud infrastructure, gives Intel Foundry something it has been working to build: a portfolio st...