This week, we’re spotlighting Jawad Saleemi, Director of AI & Cloud at Telenor Group, Norway. Jawad is a technologist at heart, dedicated to turning AI from experiments into real-world impact. He enables initiatives to deliver measurable value for customers, partners, and colleagues while upholding the highest standards of safety, ethics, and responsibility.
In his day-to-day work, Jawad shapes AI strategy, brings stakeholders together around key directions, and nurtures communities of practice across AI, data, and cloud adoption. By connecting emerging technology with practical outcomes, he helps Telenor strengthen its infrastructure and create meaningful results for the society it serves.
Hyperight.com: What’s the best way to describe your job to someone outside tech?
Jawad Saleemi: Think of Telenor as the backbone that keeps modern society running every time you make a call, stream a movie, pay with your phone, or log into an online service. My role is to help decide which emerging technologies, such as cloud and AI, to adopt, making this backbone smarter, efficient, and more resilient. This ensures we can operate seamlessly today while preparing for the future demands of our societies.
Hyperight.com: What originally sparked your interest in AI/data, and what keeps you inspired today?
Jawad Saleemi: I’ve spent my entire career working with technology and have always been fascinated by its power to shape how we live and interact. AI and data have magnified that impact exponentially, enabling smarter decisions, improving everyday life, and helping create more meaningful, high-value work. What keeps me inspired is seeing how AI continues to transform every aspect of our personal and professional lives. We’re still in the early stages of this journey, and I’m excited to be part of this AI revolution. 
Hyperight.com: What is one challenge you’re trying to solve, and why does it matter?
Jawad Saleemi: Right now, we’re focused on building the right foundations and creating an ecosystem to realize our vision of becoming an AI-first telco. To truly scale AI beyond experiments and pilots, and link its application to real business value, we need solid infrastructure, robust platforms, high-quality data products, and a governance framework that balances innovation with control. This foundation is vital to transforming AI into a sustainable engine for long-term value creation.
Hyperight.com: A tool you can’t live without (tech or not)?
Jawad Saleemi: I rely on several tools daily, especially AI ones, including GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, and Perplexity. They’ve become essential parts of how I brainstorm, code, and explore new ideas.
Hyperight.com: What trend in data or AI do you think will shape the Nordic region the most?
Jawad Saleemi: Two major trends are already redefining the AI landscape in the Nordics. The first is Agentic AI, systems that combine intelligence, tools, and intent to achieve desired outcomes autonomously. Agentic AI will power the next wave of autonomous operations across industries, including telco. In the Nordics, a region known for digital maturity, this shift will help companies evolve from reactive automation to proactive, self-optimizing systems.
The second trend is the growing focus on AI infrastructure. With abundant clean energy, a cool climate, and strong political stability, the Nordics are becoming an ideal hub for sustainable AI compute. We’re seeing major investments in AI data centers, high-performance computing, and cloud infrastructure for both training and deploying advanced AI models. Telenor contributes to this ecosystem through our secure and sovereign AI infrastructure – the AI Factory, built in partnership with NVIDIA, in Norway.
Hyperight.com: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to others entering the data and AI field?
Jawad Saleemi: My advice would be to start with the problem, not the technology. Understand the business challenge first, then identify the best solution, it might not always be AI. Sometimes, simpler digitization can solve the issue faster and more cost-effectively. Always ensure your AI initiatives are tied to clear business outcomes and avoid using AI just for the sake of it.
