Speaking at the Barclays Capital Global Technology Conference in San Francisco, Otellini declined to name specific manufacturers, but he did say that his company's Atom-based Medfield processor would be appearing in devices from "premiere" brands.

In the tablet space, meanwhile, Intel will see its Oak Trail and Moorestown chips in no fewer than 35 consumer-focused devices appearing in the first half of next year from manufacturers including Toshiba, Lenovo, Dell and Asus, Otellini reportedly said.

That may all sound like good news for Intel, whose arrival in the mobile arena is long overdue. The truth is, however, Intel faces a very tough battle ahead. While its Atom chips dominate the netbook world, smartphone and tablet makers have almost exclusively embraced the lower cost and more power-efficient chips based on instead.

Can Intel catch up at this point? I'm inclined to think not.

An Army of Chips