The blockage of the Suez Canal by the container ship Ever Given...

The blockage of the Suez Canal by the container ship Ever Given is estimated to have cost the global economy some $13 billion.

The Egyptian Government wants a billion dollars from the ship’s owners just for the trouble it caused.

But the Ever Given’s undoubted shock to world trade is not the only crisis engulfing the global economy.

This time the item threatening financial upheaval is as small as its impact is large and could make the Suez blockage will be a mere drop in the ocean, or rather, canal.

Around $80bn has already been wiped off the global bottom line of car companies alone because of an unexpected worldwide shortage of semiconductor chips and the economic damage could get far worse than that.

Scores of jobs might be lost and the price of phones, console, cars and other everyday items could rise.

Australia could suffer more than others given the country has no domestic microchip manufacturing capacity. One expert has said it amounts to a “sovereign capability risk”.