It would replace the £9million-a-year contract cancelled two years early by communications company Vodafone last November.
Blue chip electronics company Sony and the UAE-based Etihad Airways are rumoured to have been in talks with United, according to the UK's Daily Telegraph.
Real Madrid (£14million a year with Siemens), Bayern Munich (£12million - T.com) and Chelsea (£10million - Samsung) currently leave United trailing in their wake in the shirt sponsorship league.
But United are confident the market has moved on since it signed the Vodafone deal.
