Intel's president and CEO Paul Otellini says his company is hard at work porting Google's tablet-specific Android 3.0 (codenamed Honeycomb) to the x86 architecture. Intel is working with first-tier notebook vendors to build tablets based on Intel chips.

"We've received the Android code – the Honeycomb version of Android source code – from Google, and we're actively doing the port on that," Otellini told reporters and analysts during a conference call yesterday announcing Intel's first-quarter 2011 financial results, according to The Register. He also added that "[we] expect to be able to ramp those [Honeycomb-based] machines over the course of this year for a number of customers."

When asked how well the move into smartphones was going, Otellini replied: "I would be very disappointed if we didn't see Intel-based phones for sale 12 months from now." Earlier this month, there were rumors that Intel had designed a phone for China that is to be manufactured by ZTE.

Last week we learned that Android 3.0 would be a big part of Intel's tablet push. In fact, the company will reportedly pay a $10 subsidy for each Intel-based tablet shipped in order to attract first-tier notebook vendors to Atom. Earlier this month, Intel launched its Oak Trail platform, racking up over 35 innovative tablet and hybrid designs from multiple companies.

AMD, arguably Intel's biggest competitor, is also embracing Android, according to recent rumors. The company is reportedly recruiting talent for the development of Android driver software and may eventually offer its notebook and tablet PC partners chipset solutions supporting the Android platform.

We've known for a while that Intel and AMD want to break into the mobile space. It looks like the two think Google's Android is the best way to do that.