How did we end up with this chip shortage?

From India to China to the United States, carmakers can’t make cars – not that no one wants any, but because a more than $450 billion industry for semiconductors got blindsided. How did both sides end up here?

Over the past two weeks, automakers across the world have bemoaned the shortage of chips. Germany’s Audi, owned by Volkswagen AG, will delay making some of its high-end vehicles because of what Chief Executive Officer Markus Duesmann called a “massive” shortfall in an interview with the Financial Times. The firm has furloughed over 10,000 workers and reined in production.