US billionaire Carl Icahn (pictured) has increased his stake in Nuance Communications and may push for a board seat at the voice recognition firm, according to Bloomberg.

If he does succeed in gaining board representation then Icahn could encourage Nuance, which specialises in the health market, to sell some of its units or the entire company.

Possible buyers could include Microsoft, IBM or Oracle, according to Shyam Patil, an analyst at Wedbush Securities.

The same analyst recently tipped Google and Apple as possible buyers for Nuance’s mobile business.

This most recent stake-building is only small. Icahn-controlled funds now have a 16.9 per cent stake in Nuance, up from the previous 16.4 per cent according to a SEC filing.