Who Is David Zinsner? Intel's CFO and Ex-Interim Co-CEO

David Zinsner is Intel's chief financial officer, a role he took in January 2022, and he shared the top job as interim co-CEO for over three months. He came from Micron, after CFO jobs at Analog Devices and Intersil. In late October 2026 he told investors the PC slowdown would last at least through the first half of 2027.

Under Zinsner, Intel has usually landed where it said it would on revenue, and adjusted earnings have missed more often. Guidance is the forecast a company gives investors for its next quarter. In the 19 quarters Intel has reported against guidance given since he became CFO, revenue finished under the guide once and adjusted earnings per share fell short five times.

David Zinsner at a Glance

David Zinsner's Career and Background

David Zinsner has been chief financial officer at four chip companies, with one short stop at a mobile-network company along the way. He holds a bachelor's degree in industrial management from Carnegie Mellon and an MBA in finance and accounting from Vanderbilt. Before Intersil he held finance and treasury jobs at Harris, MCI Communications and Mellon Financial.

At Micron he sat on the executive leadership team and led finance and investor relations.

Intel appointed Zinsner as CFO from 17 January 2022, a week after he left Micron. He arrived under Pat Gelsinger, the former Intel CEO, and nine days later Intel issued the first quarterly guide of his tenure.

Memory at Micron and processors at Intel followed years in analog chips, so he's seen how differently each corner of the chip market moves.

Who Is the CFO of Intel?

David Zinsner is the CFO of Intel, and the company's late-October 2026 earnings release quotes him with that title. He leads its global finance organization, from accounting and tax to treasury and investor relations. In April 2026 he also became principal accounting officer, the executive responsible for its accounting, after the previous holder resigned.

You'll hear him most on earnings day. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan speaks first, and Zinsner then walks through the results and gives the forecast for the next quarter. If you follow Intel for the numbers, he's the voice you're listening to.

Intel's releases quote Zinsner on the cost side of its turnaround. In 2024 the company announced a $10 billion cost-reduction plan. In 2025 it sold 51% of Altera and part of its Mobileye stake. In July 2025 he summed up the work as lower operating costs and the sale of non-core assets. It's the unglamorous half of a chip turnaround, and it decides how long the factory spending can last.

What Did He Do as Interim Co-CEO?

Zinsner ran Intel alongside Michelle Johnston Holthaus. The board named them interim co-CEOs on 1 December 2024, after Pat Gelsinger resigned, and formed a committee to find a permanent chief. Zinsner stayed CFO throughout, and Holthaus also became CEO of the Intel Products business.

The public test came in January 2025, when the pair reported fourth-quarter revenue above the midpoint of Intel's range and earnings ahead of its guide. Zinsner credited the cost plan and said the first-quarter outlook reflected seasonal weakness made worse by economic uncertainty, competition and customers working through inventory.

Intel's revenue range for that quarter was $11.7 billion to $12.7 billion, and the result later landed inside it.

Tan took over on 18 March 2025, and Intel said Zinsner would remain executive vice president and CFO. It was a caretaker job, and he never gave up the finance seat.

Why Did Intel Stock Drop After Earnings?

Intel's stock dropped after earnings because its fourth-quarter forecast came in weak, even though the third quarter beat guidance. TechCrunch called it one of the stock's worst days ever and tied the fall to a revenue guide of $15 billion to $16 billion when analysts were looking for around $17 billion.

Why didn't the positive news help? It described a quarter that was over, and the forecast described the one ahead. Revenue for the third quarter came to $16.5 billion, above the midpoint of Intel's range, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.52 beat the guide.

The midpoint of the fourth-quarter range, $15.5 billion, is about 6% under that revenue. The guide also takes adjusted earnings per share to $0.25 and adjusted gross margin, the share of sales left after production costs, to 38% from 44.1%.

"Looking ahead, we see the PC slowdown continuing at least through the first half of next year," Zinsner said in Intel's release. He added that Intel stayed optimistic about the rest of its portfolio.

On the earnings call he put the fall in PC units at about 12% for 2026 and roughly 10% for 2027. The guide also carries roughly $300 million of lost revenue from an accident that halted manufacturing at Intel's plant in Israel.

In the US session after the report, Intel's shares closed at $65.76, down 28.6% from $92.07.

It's tempting to hang a fall like that on whoever read out the forecast, and we wouldn't. The guide belongs to Intel's management.

How Often Has Intel Met Its Guidance Under Zinsner?

Intel has met its revenue guidance in 18 of 19 quarters under David Zinsner and its adjusted earnings guidance in 14. The count covers all 19 quarters from the first guide after he arrived through the third quarter of 2026, taken from Intel's own earnings releases. Adjusted EPS is Intel's non-GAAP earnings per share, which leaves out items such as share-based pay.

The one revenue shortfall came in Q2 2022, when Intel guided to $18.0 billion and reported $15.3 billion. The other three quarters below the midpoint stayed inside Intel's range. Adjusted EPS fell short in these five quarters.

Those two charge figures come from Intel's own releases. Zinsner told the Q2 2025 call the costs weren't in the guide and that adjusted EPS would've been 10 cents without them.

Compare that with the 11 quarters before he arrived, from Q2 2019 through Q4 2021, when adjusted EPS beat Intel's guide every time.

"This marks the eighth consecutive quarter of exceeding our financial expectations," Zinsner said in late October. Over those eight, revenue beat the midpoint every time, four above the top of the range and four inside it. Adjusted EPS beat in seven, and Q2 2025 was the exception.

To us, that makes the revenue guide the firmer number and the earnings guide the softer one, because a single write-down can swamp a margin forecast. Management sets the guide, so none of this is a scorecard for one person.

Beating the guide doesn't protect the shares, though. In July 2026 Intel stock dropped 8% after doubling its earnings estimates.

Has Intel's CFO Bought Stock?

Yes. Zinsner has bought Intel stock on the open market four times, 20,432 shares in all for about $747,000 at the reported prices.

When Intel's CFO buys stock on the open market, you'll see it in a Form 4, the filing US insiders use to report their trades. His Intel Form 4s, the latest dated June 2026, show those four buys and no open-market sales. The other entries are stock awards, their vesting and shares withheld.

Each buy came four or five days after an earnings release. We'd note the dates and read nothing more into them.

How Can You Trade Intel on Phemex?

Phemex lists an Intel perpetual, INTC/USDT, which went live in February 2026. A perpetual is a futures contract with no expiry date, and this one tracks Intel's share price and settles in USDT. With TradFi futures you never own the stock, so you get no shares, dividends or votes.

Each contract is worth 1 INTC and leverage goes up to 10x. Funding, a payment between long and short holders, runs every 8 hours. Futures use leverage, and a leveraged position is closed automatically if losses reach its margin. Intel's shares trade on a fixed US schedule, and the perpetual quotes around the clock, weekends included. So the contract can move while the stock can't.

That's also why the perpetual's daily chart won't match Intel's closing prices.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was David Zinsner Intel's CEO?

Only on an interim basis. He and Michelle Johnston Holthaus were interim co-CEOs from December 2024 until Lip-Bu Tan took over in March 2025, and Zinsner stayed CFO the whole time.

Where did David Zinsner work before Intel?

Micron was his last stop, as CFO from 2018 to January 2022. Before that he was president and chief operating officer of Affirmed Networks, and CFO at Analog Devices and Intersil.

Does David Zinsner sit on other company boards?

Yes. Mobileye, a majority-owned Intel subsidiary, appointed him to its board in August 2025. Albertsons' 2026 proxy statement lists him as a director since 2025.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and is not financial advice. Cryptocurrency trading involves substantial risk. Always do your own research before making investment decisions.