An Arizona company that specializes in digital signal processing products and software-defined radio solutions will add 125 jobs over the next few years in Draper.
The location for Rincon Research Corp.’s expansion to a 37,000-square-foot office will house primarily engineering and technical positions.
The expansion announcement came after the company was awarded a tax credit incentive for up to $5.6 million over 20 years by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development board at the board’s most recent meeting.
The Draper facility, expected to be in operation in the first half of 2028, represents a capital investment by the company of nearly $144.8 million.
Diana LaFoley, Rincon president and CEO, told the GOED board that the company selected Utah because of a “great” talent pool at the state’s universities and its already experienced engineers, Utah’s quality of life, its people’s commitment to family and its business-friendly environment. The company already has employees from Utah universities and will enjoy year-round access to recruitment from those institutions, she said.
Founded in Tucson, Arizona, in 1983, Rincon is an employee-owned engineering and defense firm that delivers advanced research and technology solutions for the U.S. defense, intelligence and space programs. The company specializes in rapidly developing, designing and fielding digital signal processing products and software-defined radio solutions from concept to operation.
LaFoley said the company has done work with several large contractors and the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan. Rincon was among the companies that tracked the movement of the Artemis II spacecraft as it traveled around the moon in April.
“We like to solve very hard engineering problems, cutting-edge engineering problems, not so much make a thousand missiles or many satellites,” LaFoley told the board. “It’s trying to find the solution and the algorithm to these hard problems and then move on to the next one.”
The company has about 400 employees and has had “slow and steady growth” over the years, she said. It has five locations, some that are aging: Tucson; Centennial and Colorado Springs, Colorado; Chantilly, Virginia; and Palm Bay, Florida.
The Draper location will be at an office park owned and managed by the Woodbury Corp. One or two dozen employees will come from existing Rincon sites but the rest will be local hires for digital signal processing, electrical engineering, software engineering, cybersecurity and AI.
The project is expected to produce total new wages of $612.6 million over 20 years, with the new jobs paying an average of $287,608. New state tax revenue during that time is estimated at $20.9 million.
“What a great company you have built,” Carine Clark, GOED board chairman, told the company officials at the meeting. “[We’re] excited to see all the good things that you’re doing here. I work with most of the universities and am super-excited for another opportunity for bright people to have really interesting, rewarding jobs.” “We strongly believe the aerospace and defense industry will continue to keep Utah’s economic outlook strong for generations,” Jefferson Moss, GOED commissioner, said in a news release about the project. “Utah has an impressive talent pool to draw on in this sector. We’re proud to help align our state’s resources to support Rincon’s growing innovative needs.”
GOEO does not provide upfront cash incentives. Each year that an incentivized company meets the obligations in its contract with GOEO, it will qualify to receive a portion of the new, additional state taxes the company paid to the state.
