The 51-year-old Dane was co-CEO of software giant SAP from 2010 to 2014 and has been a member of Siemens' supervisory board since 2013.

The contract of Siemens Chairman Gerhard Cromme runs until 2018. The 73-year-old former CEO and chairman of Thyssenkrupp has been criticised for not producing a succession plan in his decade in the role.

Influential board members had persuaded Cromme to nominate a successor, Manager Magazin reported, citing supervisory board sources.

Siemens declined to comment on the report.

Trains-to-turbines group Siemens is focusing increasingly on industrial software, an area in which it has partnered with SAP and will also increasingly compete with Europe's most valuable technology company.

(Reporting by Georgina Prodhan; editing by Jason Neely)