Digital Realty

Digital Realty Trust, Inc.

File:Digital Realty TM Brandmark RGB Black.svg
Company type	Public company
Traded as	NYSE: DLR S&P 500 component
Industry	Real estate investment trust
Founded	2004 (2004)
Headquarters	Austin, Texas, U.S.
Key people	Mary Hogan Preusse (Chairman) Andrew P. Power (CEO & President)
Products	Data centers
Revenue	Increase Template:US$ (2022)
Net income	Increase US$2.47 billion (2022)
Total assets	Increase US$153.32 billion (2022)
Total equity	Increase US$9.879 billion (2019)
Number of employees	3,450 (2023)
Website	digitalrealty.com

Digital Realty operates as a real estate investment trust focused on providing carrier-neutral data centers globally. The firm delivers services including data center operations, colocation, and interconnection solutions.

By June 2023, Digital Realty managed a network exceeding 300 facilities spread across upwards of 25 countries.

Integrating sustainability into its core business objectives, Digital Realty became a participant in the Science Based Targets initiative in 2020, committing to cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 68% and Scope 3 emissions by 24% relative to 2018 levels by the year 2030. Furthermore, it is a participant in the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact, which targets achieving climate neutrality across the sector by 2030. In July 2023, Digital Realty was awarded a Certificate of Conformity acknowledging adherence to the Pact’s self-regulatory standards within Europe.

The company is actively progressing towards renewable energy adoption, powering numerous data centers across the United States and Europe with sustainable energy sources. Its renewable portfolio encompasses 1 gigawatt of secured wind and solar projects located in Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon, Arizona, and Virginia, along with installed photovoltaic capacity of 1.8 megawatts in Kenya, Greece, Switzerland, and South Korea. In the year 2022 alone, Digital Realty prevented the release of approximately 1.8 million metric tons of CO2-equivalent emissions.

History

Founded in 2004 by GI Partners, the company began with a portfolio of 21 data centers acquired through bankruptcy auctions and distressed sales, purchased at 20–40% below their replacement cost.

The firm went public on November 4, 2004, through an initial public offering, initially owning 23 facilities encompassing 5.6 million square feet.

In August 2006, the company expanded its assets by purchasing a data center located in Phoenix, Arizona for $175 million. By March 2007, GI Partners had fully exited its investment by selling all its shares.

January 2010 marked the purchase of three data centers situated in Massachusetts and Connecticut for $375 million. Two years later, in January 2012, the company acquired a 334,000-square-foot data center near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport for $63 million via a leaseback arrangement, alongside acquiring a San Francisco facility for $85 million.

In April 2013, Digital Realty secured Delta Air Lines' data center in Eagan, Minnesota for $37 million under another leaseback deal. The firm doubled the capacity of its Chandler, Arizona data center by July 2013.

A Philadelphia property was sold in May 2015 for $161 million, having been originally bought in 2005 for $59 million. Later that year, in October, the acquisition of Telx for $1.886 billion enhanced Digital Realty’s colocation and interconnection capabilities.

In November 2015, the company purchased 125.9 acres in Loudoun County, Virginia for $43 million to develop a new data center spanning two million square feet. Digital Realty further broadened its global footprint in July 2016 by acquiring eight European data centers from Equinix for $874 million.

The Atlanta facility underwent a $22 million expansion in March 2017. September of the same year saw the completion of the $7.8 billion acquisition of DuPont Fabros Technology, significantly boosting the company’s market presence.

In 2018, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Digital Realty in the case Digital Realty Trust, Inc. v. Somers, providing clarification on whistleblower protections under the Dodd-Frank Act.

December 2018 brought the acquisition of Brazilian data center provider Ascenty for $1.8 billion, adding eight facilities to Digital Realty’s portfolio.

October 2019 featured an $8.4 billion acquisition announcement for European provider Interxion, establishing a leading global platform for data center and interconnection services.

The company shifted its headquarters to Austin, Texas in January 2021 as part of its strategic growth initiatives.

In January 2022, Digital Realty acquired a majority stake (55%) in Teraco Data Environments, expanding its reach within African markets.

On September 10, 2024, a fire at Digital Realty’s Loyang data center in Singapore impacted key clients such as Lazada, Bytedance, and Alibaba Cloud’s Availability Zone C. While highlighting operational vulnerabilities within worldwide infrastructure, the incident did not result in any employee injuries.