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JPMorgan Chase has Silicon Valley in its sights.

Taking a page from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan is aiming to raise $1 billion from hedge funds and wealthy clients to invest in the hottest tech companies — including Twitter, The Post has learned.

The pitch is that JPMorgan will invest $200 million of the fund in Twitter, the popular micro-blogging service, a source briefed on the bank’s plan said. The remaining $800 million will be a “blind pool” in which JPMorgan’s fund managers will choose how to invest the money.

Word of JPMorgan’s billion-dollar interest in the booming tech sector comes as its rivals also have been heavily courting Silicon Valley. The big Wall Street firms are eager to get the inside track on these companies ahead of their hotly anticipated IPOs.

Goldman Sachs caused a stir in early January when it offered clients a slice of a $1.5 billion investment in Facebook. That offering was scaled back to $1 billion and only offered to non-US investors after the deal drew scrutiny from regulators.

The Securities and Exchange Commission reportedly started looking into the offering amid concerns that it was designed to thwart financial-reporting rules, even though Facebook is a private company.

After its well-publicized relationship with Goldman, Facebook indicated that it was heading toward an IPO by mid-2012. The social-networking site is widely considered the cream of the tech crop, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has fought going public as long as possible.

But its number of shareholders, including venture-capital investors and employees, is hurtling toward that magic number — 500 — at which point it would be forced to file with the SEC.

Twitter also is said to be heading for an IPO, but there has been talk that it could be sold.

That wasn’t the only tech move of late by Goldman and other top banks. Big bankers have reportedly wooed Groupon, the daily coupon deal darling, as it contemplates an IPO.

Making big investments in the private companies early is one way the banks could get a seat at the table once these companies initiate IPOs. Plus, ultra-wealthy tech execs need a place to park their soaring bank accounts.

The tech rush is gaining steam as companies such as Facebook, Twitter, Groupon and Zynga reach sky-high valuations.

Twitter raised $200 million in December, putting its value at about $3.7 billion, and since then there have been rumors a buyout would cost a suitor as much as $10 billion. Groupon has been valued at upwards of $15 billion and Facebook at more than $50 billion.

Funds like the one JPMorgan is forming are helping fuel the boom.

Andreessen Horowitz, for example, in November raised $650 million fund to invest in all the hottest tech companies, including $80 million that it has already spent buying shares from Twitter investors.

JPMorgan declined to comment.

jkosman@nypost.com