Avant! Corp, the Fremont, California-based developer of chip design automation software, confirmed on Friday that it’s involved in take-over talks with ACEO Technology Inc, a privately held ASIC logic-synthesis tool vendor, also based in Fremont. But a spokesperson for Avant! declined to give any further comment on the deal, despite a report in the EE Times claiming that the two companies had been in discussion since July and were now very close to closing the deal. The story also claims that a section of ACEO’s 20 employees are already working at Avant!’s premises. Avant! said it preferred not to comment in advance of a definitive statement on the deal once matters had been concluded. The news comes just a day after chip design automation giant, Cadence Design Systems Inc, paid $260m for privately held Ambit Design Systems Inc, also a provider of design automation tools for logic synthesis. EE Times quotes an unnamed Avant! spokesperson who denies that Avant! is creating a stand alone synthesis product to compete with Cadence/Ambit or its rival, Synopsys Inc.
