In 1953, he joined the Hughes Aircraft Company in Los Angeles, where he worked on automated air defense systems.

In 1965 he started the TI Advanced Scientific Computer (ASC), one of the first vector supercomputers.

The TMS320 and subsequent digital signal processors were revolutionary and had a significant impact in the field.

[3] After twenty-five years with Texas Instruments, Cragon left industry to teach in academia.

As the Ernest Cockrell, Jr. Centennial Chair in Engineering in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin from 1984 to 1999, he advised and mentored numerous undergraduate, masters, and doctoral students.