At EDCUtah’s Annual Meeting, held at United Radio in Salt Lake City earlier this month, we presented results from our 2023 fiscal year. We also had the privilege of recognizing community members Nick Duerksen and the Price Family, as well as Zions Bank, for their outstanding leadership in supporting economic prosperity for generations of aspiring Utahns.
In Fiscal Year 2022-2023 (FY 2023), in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Economic Opportunity, local economic development offices and numerous private sector partners, EDCUtah won expansion and relocation projects for 26 companies including Texas Instruments, Morgan Stanley, Procter & Gamble, and Leitner-Poma of America. For every $1 invested in support of EDCUtah in FY 2023 our project wins generated an estimated:
Both corporate recruitment and local business expansion play a role in EDCUtah’s economic development strategy. In FY 2023, half of EDCUtah’s project wins were Utah companies that chose to expand or relocate within the state.
With the record-setting $11 billion in capital expenditure from Texas Instruments, we closed FY 2023 with companies planning to invest eight times our original forecast of $1.5 billion. We also exceeded our square footage forecast, with companies announcing 2.8 million square feet of real estate absorption.
On average, projects entered our pipeline with lower job counts and higher capital expenditure this past year, a reflection of the macroeconomic trends we’re seeing across all industry sectors. In total, the 26 projects that chose Utah are estimated to create 4,387 new jobs.
Last year, we brought 125 new projects into our pipeline, averaging about 10.5 new projects per month.
Manufacturing led the charge with 64 new projects, followed by 23 new information and technology projects primarily in the data center space. We expect manufacturing to be the leading industry of new projects again this coming year.
Salt Lake and Utah County saw the most project wins. However, the combined wins in Box Elder and Cache Counties are projected to bring in $650 million in capital expenditure and nearly 400 new jobs. Almost half—46 percent to be exact—of our FY 2023 project wins landed in rural communities.
In FY 2023, our Community Strategy team helped certify three new large development-ready sites through our Site Ready Utah program: Salina Industrial Park, Ogden-Hinckley Airport, and Tooele City. We’re hearing from site selectors that while site readiness is highly valuable in their selection process, these programs are rare across the county. Over time, Site Ready Utah will increasingly become a competitive advantage for marketing land assets in the state.
In the future, we anticipate the market will see more mega projects, additional demands placed on the power grid, prolonged strain in the labor force, and increased foreign direct investment. In addition, population growth will remain top of mind for business leaders, residents and policy makers alike. We will evolve our economic development strategy to maintain Utah's competitive advantage.
We are actively interviewing site selectors, benchmarking out-of-state economic development organizations, and surveying CEOs both in-state and around the country on economic development best practices in a changing market. The goal is to uncover the best ideas and share them with our sister organizations and policymakers to keep Utah at the head of the pack.
Since I stepped into the role of CEO eight months ago, I’ve been inspired by the vision and tenacity of Utah’s business, government, and community leaders. Their efforts helped Utah develop into one of the most diverse, stable, and dynamic economies in the country. Equally important to EDCUtah’s success are the investors who support our mission, grow with us, and guide us as we navigate shifting economic trends and opportunities. It's an honor to lead an organization that for more than 35 years has contributed meaningfully to Utah’s economic journey by helping attract and sustain quality jobs across the Beehive state.
“The Prosperity Post” highlights examples of the impact of your investment and EDCUtah’s work in communities across the state. Do you have a story you’d like us to share? Email connect@edcutah.org.
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