Intel has expanded its foundry business beyond processors by forming a new partnership with computer network corporation Cisco. "Intel has recently signed an agreement to manufacture Cisco?s networking chips on a contractual basis," said Lee Hee-sung, country manager at Intel Korea, during an interview with The Korea Times.

The Intel executive added that the firm hopes to take advantage of the growing demand for value-added programmable and logic chips, a profitable segment.

The partnership is part of Intel?s diversification, aimed to offset falling demand for traditional CPU chips, hit by the transition to graphic processing unit (GPU) chips used in smartphones and tablets.

Intel is already making devices for programmable logic start-ups Achronix and Tabula, and network processor firm Netronome.