A timeline of how the generative-AI boom became a capital-markets story: the ChatGPT shock of late 2022, the ensuing compute and data-center capex supercycle, Nvidia's rise, hyperscaler spending, circular deals and debt financing, and the recurring debate over whether AI investment is a sustainable productivity wave or a speculative bubble. The span runs from the initial AI product breakthrough through the financialization of AI infrastructure and the mounting bubble arguments of the mid-2020s. This timeline was generated automatically by TimeStrands AI from Wikipedia research. Facts are sourced; framing may be imperfect.