Qualcomm’s latest earnings showed its business remains tied to the smartphone cycle despite efforts to promote its AI and data-center future, with handset chip revenue falling 26% and the stock dropping more than 6% after hours. The major chip designer beat overall expectations, but investors focused on phones, where demand remains soft and the handset unit is still the company’s profit engine. Management said profit margins should gradually climb back toward its typical range as previously announced chip price increases filter through, though some analysts were unimpressed by how long that could take. Qualcomm forecast $650 million of data-center sales in its fiscal first quarter and highlighted a September deal with Amazon to supply AI chips and other data-center products; the agreement includes warrants valued at about $1.8 billion when signed. The company is also planning for Apple to stop buying its modem chips, meaning newer businesses need to scale fast enough to offset a future gap. Amazon’s $60 billion deal includes warrants tied to up to 25 million Qualcomm shares, and the market will judge the data-center push on per-share results, with the $650 million quarterly forecast and the longer-term $15 billion annual target mattering most if they translate into better earnings per share.