Available data on the underlying metals and on broad asset classes in 2022 indicates that a basket of battery metals was not the single best‑performing major asset class.

• Lithium prices roughly doubled again in 2022, ending the year up about 70–80% and ranked as the best‑performing individual commodity for the second year in a row. Nickel also rose strongly, around 40% for the year. (elements.visualcapitalist.com)
• However, cobalt prices fell sharply from their peak and finished 2022 down about 25–30%, and graphite showed only moderate gains rather than a huge spike. An equal‑weight basket of lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite therefore would have returned something on the order of a few tens of percent, not the 60%+ needed to dominate all other major investable categories. (elements.visualcapitalist.com)
• By contrast, energy was widely reported as the standout major asset class in 2022. The S&P 500 Energy sector posted a total return of about +65.7% for the year, far ahead of the broad S&P 500, which was down about 18%. (spglobal.com)
• On the commodities side, the S&P GSCI Energy index gained about 42% in 2022, and some individual energy commodities (notably certain coal benchmarks) were up well over 100%, exceeding even lithium’s gains and any reasonable weighted basket of lithium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite. (ycharts.com)
• Investable battery‑metal themed equity products, such as lithium and battery‑technology ETFs, actually had negative calendar‑year returns in 2022 despite the spike in lithium prices, so these were clearly not the top‑performing investable asset class either. (financecharts.com)

Because other well‑recognized asset classes (especially energy equities and energy commodities) delivered substantially higher returns than any plausible basket of battery metals in 2022, Chamath’s prediction that battery metals would be the best‑performing asset class among major investable assets for that calendar year did not come true.