I think there is no question Huawei is going in that direction. If you look at a lot of the chips it designs, they are in the 14nm range. But in order to get to 14nm, you first have to conquer 28nm using de-americanized tools. Which I assume they have done based on what hvpc said before. So now they are looking to qualify 14nm tools. It's just normal. Maybe Huawei, wants to go from 0 to 100 in a year, but it's going to take them several years, so until it gets there, it will need to rely on SMIC.
but beyond 14nm, there is still plenty of need for 28/40/55nm chips. SMIC talked about it a lot. If you look at EVs right now, everyone is moving to 40nm. Clear reason for Huawei to develop expertise and increase production at these nodes.