US$61 billion. That's how much the global automotive industry will stop selling this year because of a shortage of semiconductors, the ubiquitous chips that run televisions, smartphones, game consoles and washing machines, among thousands of other everyday items.. The shortages, which began to be alerted in early 2020, will continue this year. High-tech chip production is heavily concentrated in two manufacturers, TSMC of Taiwan and Samsung. It is an industry with extremely high barriers to entry. The current shortage is the product of a perfect storm ranging from the pandemic, which boosted sales of electronics and computers, to the U.S.-China technology war, which led companies like Huawei to increase their chip imports to bolster their inventories. The unexpected recovery in auto sales and weather impacts, such as the freeze in Texas, where several factories are located, and the drought in Taiwan, added huge grains of sand to the problem. What does the future look like? TSMC and Samsung have plans to invest more than US$100 billion each in new capacity, including significant sums this year. Supply tightness could extend to 2022, according to TSMC.