Intel's contract chipmaking division has secured its first publicly named customer, with firewall specialist Fortinet agreeing to manufacture custom application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) at the US chip giant's fabs. The deal, announced on 21 July 2026, sees Fortinet move production of its proprietary security silicon — the brains inside its enterprise firewalls — to Intel's advanced manufacturing nodes.
For Intel, the partnership is a badly needed endorsement of its foundry ambitions. Since launching the business in 2021, Intel has invested billions in new fabrication plants in the US, Ireland and Germany, but has struggled to win orders from major chip designers. Fortinet's decision to use Intel for its ASICs — chips tailored for specific tasks rather than general-purpose processors — suggests the foundry's technology is now competitive with long-established players like TSMC and Samsung.
The implications for UK businesses are twofold. First, the deal could help stabilise supply of critical networking hardware at a time when geopolitical tensions threaten to disrupt semiconductor supply chains. Fortinet's firewalls are widely deployed across British enterprises, government departments and critical national infrastructure. Second, the move may encourage other security hardware vendors to diversify their manufacturing bases away from Taiwan, reducing concentration risk for UK buyers.
From a regulatory perspective, the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has not commented directly on foundry deals, but the broader push for semiconductor sovereignty aligns with the government's National Semiconductor Strategy. The EU AI Act, meanwhile, does not directly govern chip manufacturing, but its requirements for transparency and security in AI systems could increase demand for specialised, tamper-resistant silicon — precisely the kind of custom ASICs that Fortinet will now produce at Intel.
Industry experts see both opportunities and risks for the UK. 'For British companies that rely on secure networking gear, having Intel as an additional source for custom chips is a hedge against single-supplier dependency,' said Dr. Alistair Finch, a semiconductor supply chain analyst at the University of Cambridge. 'But Intel still has to prove it can deliver high yields and competitive pricing at scale. If it stumbles, the promised resilience could turn into a different kind of bottleneck.'
The financial terms of the Fortinet-Intel deal were not disclosed, but the collaboration is expected to span multiple chip generations. For UK consumers, the immediate impact is indirect: greater supply chain resilience for the routers and firewalls that underpin home and small-business internet connections. Over the longer term, a successful Intel foundry could mean more choice and lower prices in the networking equipment market.