JMA begins work with new HQ, 5G plant near downtown Syracuse

SYRACUSE — When President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act on Aug. 9, John Mezzalingua, CEO of Syracuse–based JMA Wireless Inc. attended the ceremony at the White House. 

In a statement after the signing, Mezzalingua described the new law a “critical step” in reestablishing American competitiveness in wireless technology. 

“Today, the enactment of CHIPs is bigger than any one company, it’s about ensuring we no longer outsource our future,” Mezzalingua said. “The United States has finally woken up to what the Chinese Communist Party has known for a long time — that 5G will become the central nervous system that connects and controls all other infrastructure. The free world will depend on it — our homes, schools, jobs, water systems, electrical grids, transportation networks, manufacturing, and military. It’s a strategic asset that America must own.”

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D–N.Y.), who had advocated heavily for the legislation, had invited Mezzalingua and others to Washington, D.C. for the bill-signing ceremony.

When Schumer spoke about the bill during an appearance in Clay on Aug. 1, he outlined what the bill would mean for JMA Wireless. 

“This legislation also means big things for top local employers like JMA Wireless in Syracuse — which will be first in line for nearly $1.5 billion in federal incentives for strengthening the wireless industry supply chain,” Schumer said.

His comments in Clay were part of his “attempts to bring chip manufacturing to the White Pine Commerce Park,” per his office.

The federal incentives that Schumer referenced in the new law include $1.5 billion for the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund. The incentives seek to spur the race to 5G, software-based wireless technologies, and innovative “leap-ahead” technologies in the U.S. mobile-broadband market.

JMA’s new headquarters

The Chips and Science Act became law not long after JMA Wireless held a July 28 formal-opening ceremony to mark completion of the first phase of the company’s new headquarters and 5G manufacturing plant at 140 Cortland Ave., just south of downtown Syracuse. 

In his remarks at the ceremony, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon noted that Mezzalingua and JMA Wireless could’ve pursued the new headquarters project in Texas. McMahon recalled how Mezzalingua met with him and Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh and how they “sold him pretty hard on doing this in New York and his hometown.”

McMahon called it “quite a process.” 

“John chose to do it right here on the south side of the City of Syracuse to reinvest millions of dollars in a high-tech manufacturing hub that is going to solve problems for our community, our country, and our national security,” McMahon said.

In Mezzalingua’s remarks, he noted that the JMA Wireless headquarters is the first building in its 5G campus, and he described it as the “factory of the future.” 

“But this has always been more than all of the jobs that we’re going to create,” he said. “It’s about establishing America as a leader in wireless.”

Mezzalingua explained that in order to “change the game,” a company has to control its own destiny by owning its own technology. It’s not just that way for companies, it’s that way for countries as well, he noted. 

“With supply-chain problems and cyberthreats and foreign competition, designing and building 5G products in this country means that we rely on ourselves,” Mezzalingua said. “It makes us safer and more secure, and I think other countries in the world will want to rely on a U.S. company, and, in particular, a U.S. company with no ties to China, so they can trust their communications systems and we are now today in a position to make 5G our greatest export.”