Fortinet Says AI Security Demand Is Outlasting Earlier Spending Booms
Summary
Fortinet CEO Ken Xie said demand for AI security remains strong, driven by infrastructure expansion and threat concerns. The company also reported a seven-figure firewall deal with an AI developer expanding across five data centers.
Key points
- CEO Ken Xie said demand for securing AI has remained strong in recent months, with no signs of slowing.
- Fortinet executives attributed demand to AI infrastructure expansion and concern about AI-powered threats.
- CFO Christiane Ohlgart said an AI company developing frontier models expanded its Fortinet firewall deployment from one data center to five additional data centers.
- Fortinet said the deal was worth seven figures.
- Xie said adoption of open-source and open-weight models is also driving demand for network security and internal data-center segmentation.
- Fortinet reported quarterly revenue of $2.08 billion and forecast revenue of $2.155 billion to $2.245 billion for the quarter ending December 31.
Article Details
- Event Type
- Fortinet executive comments on sustained demand for AI-related cybersecurity and reports quarterly financial results.
- Impact
- Fortinet executives said demand for securing AI workflows is driving investment in network security, including firewalls and SASE, and described a seven-figure deal with an AI company that expanded Fortinet firewall deployment to five additional data centers. Fortinet reported quarterly revenue of $2.08 billion and non-GAAP earnings of $0.91 per share. Its shares fell 25.71% in after-hours trading following its outlook.
People
Christiane OhlgartFortinet Chief Financial Officer who discussed the role of network security in protecting AI workflows and described a seven-figure customer deal.John WhittleFortinet Chief Operating Officer who described AI-related threats as a durable driver of cybersecurity demand.Ken XieFortinet CEO who told investors that AI-related cybersecurity demand remains strong and is driving security investment.