Qualcomm long reigned as the world’s biggest fabless chip company, pioneering the cellular age and making the modems inside nearly every smartphone today. But ChatGPT sent Nvidia’s revenue soaring past Qualcomm’s this month, and Apple is working on its own modems for iPhones after 2024. Now Qualcomm is diversifying into smart cars, chips for VR headsets, and powering generative AI off the cloud. We got an inside look at Qualcomm’s chip lab in San Diego, and its plans to hold on to wireless dominance.