Indian businessman Sundar Pichai has emerged as frontrunner for Microsoft Corp.'s chief executive officer post. Sources close to the tech giant's hiring team said that talks with Pichai are in an advanced stage. Pichai is a senior vice president at Google Inc., where he is in charge of Android, Chrome and Google Apps, newswire RTTNews said in a report.

According to the report, Microsoft could name a new CEO anytime next week. Recent reports, however, said that insider Satya Nadella is also a top candidate to replace outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer. Nadella is the incumbent head of Microsoft's cloud and enterprise arms.

RTTNews, citing earlier reports, said that Microsoft is on the lookout for outsiders. But with the tech giant just posting its best-performing quarter in the recent years, sources said that Microsoft may settle for an insider candidate in the end.

Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992 from California-based computer company Sun Microsystems Inc. He was charged with building and running Microsoft's computing platforms, developer tools and cloud services, the report said.

Pichai, on the other hand, has been with Google since 2004. He headed Google's product management and innovation efforts for a suite of its software products, such as Google Chrome and Chrome OS, as well as cloud-based storage service Google Drive, RTTNews said.

Meanwhile, two other Microsoft insiders, strategy head Tony Bates and former Nokia CEO and Microsoft executive Stephen Elop, are still in the running to become the tech giant's chief executive. Previous reports, however, said that Bates and Elop only have a slight chance of winning the post, the report stated.

Microsoft began the search for its next CEO after current chief executive Ballmer bid farewell to employees and announced his retirement within the year in a company meeting last August. Ballmer joined Microsoft in June 1980. He has been leading the company for over 13 years since he was chosen as CEO in January 2000, RTTNews said.