Intel Capital, the U.S. chip firm’s venture capital arm, has invested $28 million into Chinese biometrics, internet of things, wearables and in-game communications firms – and also the developer of a major Chinese Android fork.

The company announced the recipients of the first tranche of its $100 million Intel Capital China Smart Device Innovation Fund, which was set up back in April, on Tuesday. This is [company]Intel[/company] Capital’s third Chinese fund – it’s invested more than $700 million in Chinese companies over the last 16 years, which doesn’t count the $1.5 billion Intel recently put into chip firms [company]Spreadtrum Communications[/company] and [company]RDA Microelectronics[/company] via a local holding company.

The investment in [company]LeWa[/company], the creator of the Android-based LeWa OS (pictured above), is quite interesting. LeWa OS is customized for manufacturers of low-cost smartphones, and the company provided a custom ROM for the short-lived Nokia X Android handset in China. According…