By now, everybody knows that tech behemoth Apple’s got a mountain of cash it’s sitting on with more pouring over the transom everyday. So what’s a tech giant to do with $100 billion in greenbacks lying around overseas banks and earning little or no interest?

An analyst at Morgan Stanley believes she knows: They’re planning to buy up a good chunk of their own supply chain, analyst Katy Huberty tells Forbes.

It would make sense. The company’s CEO Tim Cook was formerly an operations expert who has been the master of Apple’s supply chain since Steve Jobs hired him in 1998.

His primary talent has always been in managing the pipeline of Apple products.

And that pipeline needs to run fast these days. With demand for the company’s smartphone and tablet far outpacing supply, the company needs to stay on top of its suppliers and what better way to do that?

The company’s been dropping hints about their supply chain plans since last fall, when Apple disclosed it planned to spend $7.1 billion on capital expenditures in 2012, up from $4.3 billion last year.

Tags: Apple, cash, Forbes, spend, supply chain, Tim Cook