Synopsys Inc., a US company that makes software for designing semiconductors, is in advanced talks to buy privately held technology company PikeTec, according to people familiar with the matter.

Synopsys could announce a deal valuing PikeTec at more than $200 million as soon as this week, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter is private.

The talks aren’t finalized and could still fall apart.

PikeTec, owned by the German private equity firm ECM Equity Capital Management, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Representatives for ECM and Synopsys, based in Mountain View, California, declined to comment.

Shares of Synopsys rose 2.8% to $448.43 at 2:32 p.m. in New York trading Wednesday, giving the company a market value of $68 billion.

Synopsys is one of the two major electronic design automation companies serving the semiconductor market and competes with Cadence Design Systems Inc.

A takeover of PikeTec fits the company’s strategy of doing a steady stream of tuck-in acquisitions worth a few hundred million over the past two decades.

PikeTec makes embedded testing software tools. It was founded in 2007 in Berlin by executives who knew each other from the research department of Daimler AG, according to its website.

PikeTec had been working with a financial adviser to explore a sale in recent months, the people said.

--With assistance from Ian King and Vinicy Chan.