The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has amended its antitrust settlement with Intel to include new provisions for the forthcoming Oak trail Atom line of processors.

Under the new amendment, Intl will be forced to ship Oak trail processors which don?t support the PCI Express standard until April 2013. This will allow tablet and netbook makers to use the processors without signing up to PCI.

"Following a public comment period, the Federal Trade Commission has approved a modified settlement order resolving charges that Intel illegally stifled competition in the market for computer chips. The FTC Order will open the door to renewed competition and prevent Intel from suppressing competition in the future," the FTC said in a stetement.

"After considering public comments, the FTC modified the proposed order to allow Intel to manufacture and sell a chip that it had in development before the proposed order was negotiated, but that would violate that order because it does not contain a required interface. The FTC modified the order to allow Intel to ship this product until June 2013. All future generations of this chip must fully comply with all specifications of the final Order," the FTC added.