7nm development has pitted SMIC alongside TSMC and above Intel. Also the guy who headed TSMC, Intel, Samsung and other foundries before, is now heading SMIC, who brought with himself many TSMC engineers. It is clear SMIC will become a colossal independent foundry, helping breakthrough from USA/UK's ARM/x86 and Taiwan puppet problems.
From what I see I was a little outdated on this, but Liang Mong-Song is now executive, and Chiang Shang-Yi is not there. This is what probably helped SMIC solidify itself. However the latest leak about 7nm happened recently https://archive.ph/7rjWD