DIGITAL REALTY TRUST, INC. - Annual Report: 2020 (Form 10-K)

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

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DIGITAL REALTY TRUST, INC.

DIGITAL REALTY TRUST, L.P.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

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(737) 281-0101

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

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Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

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Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc.:

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Digital Realty Trust, L.P.:

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If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act).

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The aggregate market value of the common equity held by non-affiliates of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. as of June 30, 2020 totaled approximately $38 billion based on the closing price for Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock on that day as reported by the New York Stock Exchange. Such value excludes common stock held by executive officers, directors and 10% or greater stockholders as of June 30, 2020. The identification of 10% or greater stockholders as of June 30, 2020 is based on Schedule 13G and amended Schedule 13G reports publicly filed before June 30, 2020. This calculation does not reflect a determination that such parties are affiliates for any other purposes.

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There is no public trading market for the common units of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. As a result, the aggregate market value of the common units held by non-affiliates of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. cannot be determined.

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Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant’s classes of common stock, as of the latest practicable date.

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Digital Realty Trust, Inc.:

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DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

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Part III incorporates by reference portions of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Proxy Statement for its 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders which the registrants anticipate will be filed no later than 120 days after the end of its fiscal year pursuant to Regulation 14A.

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EXPLANATORY NOTE

This report combines the annual reports on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020 of Digital Realty Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation, and Digital Realty Trust, L.P., a Maryland limited partnership, of which Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is the sole general partner. Unless otherwise indicated or unless the context requires otherwise, all references in this report to “we,” “us,” “our,” “our Company” or “the Company” refer to Digital Realty Trust, Inc. together with its consolidated subsidiaries, including Digital Realty Trust, L.P. In statements regarding qualification as a REIT, such terms refer solely to Digital Realty Trust, Inc. Unless otherwise indicated or unless the context requires otherwise, all references to “our Operating Partnership” or “the Operating Partnership” refer to Digital Realty Trust, L.P. together with its consolidated subsidiaries.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is a real estate investment trust, or REIT, and the sole general partner of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. As of December 31, 2020, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. owned an approximate 97.2% common general partnership interest in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. The remaining approximate 2.8% of the common limited partnership interests of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. are owned by non-affiliated third parties and certain directors and officers of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. As of December 31, 2020, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. owned all of the preferred limited partnership interests of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. As the sole general partner of Digital Realty Trust, L.P., Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has the full, exclusive and complete responsibility for the Operating Partnership’s day-to-day management and control.

We believe combining the annual reports on Form 10-K of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and Digital Realty Trust, L.P. into this single report results in the following benefits:

There are a few differences between our Company and our Operating Partnership, which are reflected in the disclosure in this report. We believe it is important to understand the differences between our Company and our Operating Partnership in the context of how we operate as an interrelated consolidated company. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is a REIT, whose only material asset is its ownership of partnership interests of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. As a result, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. does not conduct business itself, other than acting as the sole general partner of Digital Realty Trust, L.P., issuing public equity from time to time and guaranteeing certain unsecured debt of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. and certain of its subsidiaries. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. itself does not issue any indebtedness but guarantees the unsecured debt of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates, as disclosed in this report. Digital Realty Trust, L.P. holds substantially all the assets of the Company and holds the ownership interests in the Company’s joint ventures. Digital Realty Trust, L.P. conducts the operations of the business and is structured as a partnership with no publicly traded equity. Except for net proceeds from public equity issuances by Digital Realty Trust, Inc., which are generally contributed to Digital Realty Trust, L.P. in exchange for partnership units, Digital Realty Trust, L.P. generates the capital required by the Company’s business through Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s operations, by Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s direct or indirect incurrence of indebtedness or through the issuance of partnership units.

The presentation of noncontrolling interests in operating partnership, stockholders’ equity and partners’ capital are the main areas of difference between the consolidated financial statements of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and those of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. The common limited partnership interests held by the limited partners in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. are presented as limited partners’ capital within partners’ capital in Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s consolidated financial statements and as noncontrolling interests in operating partnership within equity in Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s consolidated financial statements. The common and preferred partnership interests held by Digital Realty Trust, Inc. in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. are presented as general partner’s capital within partners’ capital in Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s consolidated financial statements and as preferred stock, common stock, additional paid-in capital and accumulated dividends in excess of earnings within stockholders’ equity in Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s consolidated financial

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statements. The differences in the presentations between stockholders’ equity and partners’ capital result from the differences in the equity issued at the Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and the Digital Realty Trust, L.P. levels.

To help investors understand the significant differences between the Company and the Operating Partnership, this report presents the following separate sections for each of the Company and the Operating Partnership:

This report also includes separate Item 9A. Controls and Procedures sections and separate Exhibit 31 and 32 certifications for each of the Company and the Operating Partnership in order to establish that the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer of each entity has made the requisite certifications and that the Company and the Operating Partnership are compliant with Rule 13a-15 or Rule 15d-15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and 18 U.S.C. §1350.

In order to highlight the differences between the Company and the Operating Partnership, the separate sections in this report for the Company and the Operating Partnership specifically refer to the Company and the Operating Partnership. In the sections that combine disclosure of the Company and the Operating Partnership, this report refers to actions or holdings as being actions or holdings of the Company. Although the Operating Partnership is generally the entity that enters into contracts and joint ventures and holds assets and debt, reference to the Company is appropriate because the business is one enterprise and the Company operates the business through the Operating Partnership.

As general partner with control of the Operating Partnership, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. consolidates the Operating Partnership for financial reporting purposes, and it does not have significant assets other than its investment in the Operating Partnership. Therefore, the assets and liabilities of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and Digital Realty Trust, L.P. are the same on their respective consolidated financial statements. The separate discussions of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and Digital Realty Trust, L.P. in this report should be read in conjunction with each other to understand the results of the Company on a consolidated basis and how management operates the Company.

In this report, “properties” and “buildings” refer to all or any of the buildings in our portfolio, including data centers and non-data centers, and “data centers” refers only to the properties or buildings in our portfolio that contain data center space. In this report, “global revolving credit facility” refers to our Operating Partnership’s $2.35 billion senior unsecured revolving credit facility and global senior credit agreement; “term loan facility” or “unsecured term loans” refers to our Operating Partnership’s senior unsecured multi-currency term loan facility and term loan agreement, which governs a $300 million five-year senior unsecured term loan and a $512 million five-year senior unsecured term loan; “Yen revolving credit facility” refers to our Operating Partnership’s ¥33,285,000,000 (approximately $322 million based on exchange rates at December 31, 2020) senior unsecured revolving credit facility and Yen credit agreement; and “revolving credit facilities” or “global revolving credit facilities” refer to our global revolving credit facility and our Yen revolving credit facility, collectively.

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DIGITAL REALTY TRUST, INC. AND DIGITAL REALTY TRUST, L.P.

FORM 10-K

FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2020

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PART I

ITEM 1.     BUSINESS

The Company

Digital Realty Trust, Inc., through its controlling interest in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. (the Operating Partnership) and the subsidiaries of the Operating Partnership, (collectively, we, our, us or the Company) is a leading global provider of data center, colocation and interconnection solutions for customers across a variety of industry verticals ranging from cloud and information technology services, communications and social networking to financial services, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and consumer products. Digital Realty Trust, L.P., a Maryland limited partnership, is the entity through which Digital Realty Trust, Inc., a Maryland corporation, conducts its business of owning, acquiring, developing and operating data centers.  Digital Realty Trust, Inc. operates as a REIT for federal income tax purposes.

As of December 31, 2020, our portfolio consisted of 291 data centers (including 43 data centers held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures), of which 139 are located in the United States, 107 are located in Europe, 22 are located in Latin America, 12 are located in Asia, six are located in Australia, three are located in Africa and two are located in Canada.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. was incorporated in the state of Maryland on March 9, 2004. Digital Realty Trust, L.P. was organized in the state of Maryland on July 21, 2004. Our principal executive offices are located at 5707 Southwest Parkway, Building 1, Suite 275, Austin, Texas 78735. Our telephone number is (737) 281-0101. Our website is www.digitalrealty.com. The information found on, or otherwise accessible through, our website is not incorporated by reference into, nor does it form a part of, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Recent Acquisitions

On October 29, 2019, Digital Realty Trust, Inc., Digital Intrepid Holding B.V., an indirect subsidiary of Digital Realty Trust, Inc., and Interxion Holding N.V., which we refer to as Interxion, entered into a purchase agreement, or the Purchase Agreement, pursuant to which, subject to the terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement, the Buyer commenced an exchange offer to purchase all of the outstanding ordinary shares of Interxion in exchange for shares of common stock of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.. We refer to the transactions contemplated by the Purchase Agreement as the Interxion Combination. We obtained control of Interxion on March 9, 2020 and completed the Interxion Combination on March 12, 2020 for total equity consideration of approximately $7.0 billion, including cash assumed. The Interxion Combination has expanded the combined company’s presence across Europe and Africa.

On November 1, 2019, we closed the joint venture with Mapletree Investments and Mapletree Industrial Trust, which we refer to collectively as Mapletree, on three existing Turn-Key Flex® data centers located in Ashburn, Virginia. The Company retained a 20% ownership interest in the joint venture, and Mapletree acquired the remaining 80% stake for approximately $0.8 billion. We will continue to operate and manage these facilities. The second tranche of the Mapletree transaction, the sale of 10 fully-leased Powered Base Building® properties for $557 million, closed in January 2020.

On December 20, 2018, the Operating Partnership and Stellar Participações S.A. (formerly Stellar Participações Ltda.), a Brazilian subsidiary of the Operating Partnership, completed the acquisition of Ascenty, a leading data center provider in Brazil, for cash and equity consideration of approximately $2.0 billion, including cash assumed. We refer to this transaction as the Ascenty Acquisition. In March 2019, we formed a joint venture with Brookfield Infrastructure, an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management, one of the largest owners and operators of infrastructure assets globally. Brookfield invested approximately $702 million in exchange for approximately 49% of the total equity interests in the joint venture which owns and operates Ascenty. A subsidiary of the Operating Partnership retained the remaining equity interest in the Ascenty joint venture. As of March 27, 2019, we deconsolidated Ascenty and recorded our retained interest as an investment in unconsolidated joint ventures due to shared control with Brookfield.

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On September 14, 2017, we completed the acquisition of DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc., or DFT, in an all-stock merger, which we refer to as the DFT Merger, for equity consideration of approximately $6.2 billion. We believe this transaction expanded our reach with a complementary portfolio in top U.S. metropolitan areas while enhancing our ability to meet the growing demand for hyper-scale and public cloud solutions and solidifying our blue-chip customer base.

Industry Background

The digital economy continues to grow and change how enterprises across all industries create and deliver value. Companies increasingly need to operate ubiquitously, on-demand and with real-time intelligence serving customers, partners and employees across multiple channels, business functions and points of business presence. Computational processing power requirements continue to advance, data traffic is growing, and the volume of data that enterprises generate, transmit, process, analyze, monitor and manage is expanding dramatically. The Internet of Things, 5G, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence, among other technological advancements, are driving this digital transformation.

Further, we believe that enterprise data growth is accelerating due to the growing digital economy and emerging technological advances. As enterprises analyze and process this accelerating data mass, they create more data. As this data mass builds and continues to be analyzed and processed, we believe it becomes increasingly challenging to replicate and relocate, a phenomenon called increasing data gravity. We believe that enterprise decision makers will need to increasingly consider the impact of how data gravity impacts their enterprise IT architectures and, accordingly, we have developed the Data Gravity Index™. The Data Gravity Index™ is a global forecast that measures the intensity and gravitational force of enterprise data growth.

As a global infrastructure provider for this growing digital economy, we believe the data center industry is poised for sustainable growth. The demand for data center infrastructure is being driven by this digital transformation which is contributing to the explosive growth of data, rapid growth of cloud adoption and greater demand for IT outsourcing. The power requirements and financial costs to support this growth in data, traffic and storage are substantial and growing accordingly. We believe that data centers will continue to play a critical role in the digital economy and enabling business transformation strategies.

We believe cloud solutions and, in particular, hybrid cloud solutions will remain significant drivers of demand for data center infrastructure. The hybrid cloud, which combines public and private cloud solutions, has gained traction because it enables corporate enterprises to achieve efficiencies and contain costs as well as scale and secure their most sensitive information. In addition, the leading cloud service providers are generally mature, well-capitalized technology companies, and cloud platforms are among their fastest growing business segments. Data center providers that can solve global coverage, capacity and communities of interest connectivity needs, and coordinate and aggregate diverse customer and application demand, are poised to benefit from these cloud-specific industry drivers.

These diverse and secular industry dynamics are driving greater demand for data center capacity not only from global cloud service providers, but also from businesses across other industries, including IT service firms, social media, content providers and the financial services sector. As companies focus on their core competencies and rely on outsourcing to meet their IT infrastructure needs, they are prioritizing colocation for their data center solutions for various reasons, including to reduce latency in data transfer and increase global presence and connectivity. New technologies need a fast, reliable and flexible foundation to operate, and the importance of offering a full spectrum of power, space and connectivity solutions continues to grow.

Our Business

We provide a global data center platform that supports our customers’ digital infrastructure and enables our customers to interconnect with their customers and partners. We solve global coverage, capacity, and communities of interest connectivity needs for companies of all sizes, including the world’s leading enterprises and services providers, through PlatformDIGITAL^®, our fit-for-purpose platform that simplifies access to data center capacity and

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interconnection through a single data center provider with tailored infrastructure deployments and controls. PlatformDIGITAL^® combines our global presence with our Pervasive Data Center Architecture (PDx™) solution methodology for scaling digital business and efficiently managing data gravity challenges. Our global data center footprint gives customers access to the connected communities that matter to them with 291 facilities in 49 metros across 24 countries on six continents.

Fundamentally, we bring together foundational real estate and innovative technology expertise around the world to deliver a comprehensive, dedicated product suite to meet customers’ data and connectivity needs. We represent an important part of the digital economy that we believe will benefit from powerful, long-term growth drivers.

We believe that the growth trends in the data center market, technology, the cloud, Internet traffic and Internet-based services, combined with cost advantages in outsourcing data center requirements, provide attractive growth opportunities for us as a data center solutions provider. Leveraging deep expertise in technology and real estate, we have an expansive global footprint, impressive scale and a full-spectrum fit-for-purpose product offering in key metropolitan areas around the world. These advantages simplify the contracting process for multinational enterprises, eliminating their need to negotiate with multiple local data center solutions providers. In addition, in areas where high data center construction and operating costs and long time-to-market prohibit many of our customers from building their own data centers, our global footprint and scale allow us to quickly and efficiently meet our customers' needs.

Digital Realty Pillars

We are one of the leading data center providers in the world. Our business and operations are aligned with the following key pillars:

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Resilient Foundations

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Our record of resiliency, 14 consecutive years of “five-nines” (99.999%) uptime for facilities owned and operated by us, and our award-winning sustainability program ensure our customers’ high-performance networks are effective and environmentally conscious. We design, own and manage data centers and are trusted with the critical IT infrastructures of companies globally, from small businesses to large multinational enterprises. We provide the critical digital foundations for our customers to store, manage, and connect their data when, where and how they need it.

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Global, Local and Interconnected

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Our data centers are hyper-connected hubs, strategically located in 49 key metro areas across the world. Our global strength is matched by the expertise of our local teams on the ground. Our data centers provide high-performance access to one of the largest communities of interest of interconnected networks, critical data center and cloud services, customers and partners. Our global footprint and network enable our customers to connect with other parties in the way they need.

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Trusted Partner

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We are a trusted partner for our customers, which include many of the most digitally ambitious companies in the world, helping to safeguard their digital capital and drive their growth. Whether designing and delivering dedicated data center facilities or solving cloud connectivity issues, our dedicated team of technical experts strives to ensure customer success through consistency in operations, customer care and ease of doing business.

Our Data Center Portfolio

Our portfolio of high-quality data centers provides secure, highly connected and continuously available environments for the exchange, processing and storage of critical data. Data centers are used for digital communication, disaster recovery purposes, transaction processing and housing mission-critical corporate IT applications. Our internet

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gateway data centers are highly interconnected, network-dense facilities that serve as hubs for internet and data communications within and between major metropolitan areas. We believe internet gateways are extremely valuable and a high-quality, highly interconnected global portfolio such as ours could not be easily replicated today on a cost-competitive basis.

Our global platform provides access to a network of 291 state-of-the-art, interconnected data centers, concentrated in 49 major metropolitan areas across 24 countries on six continents. We are diversified across major metropolitan areas characterized by a high concentration of connected end-users and technology companies. Northern Virginia represented 19% of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020, followed by Chicago with 11% of total revenue.

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Through strategic investments, we have grown our presence in key metropolitan areas throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, Australia and Africa. Recent acquisitions have expanded our footprint into Latin America, enhanced our data center offerings in strategic and complementary U.S. metropolitan areas, established our colocation and interconnection platform in the U.S. and expanded our colocation and interconnection platform in Europe and Africa, each transaction enhancing our presence in top-tier locations throughout North America, Europe, Latin America and Africa.

The locations of and improvements to our data centers, the network density, interconnection infrastructure and connectivity-centric customers in certain of our facilities, and our comprehensive product offerings are critical to our customers’ businesses, which we believe results in high occupancy levels, longer average lease terms and customer relationships, as well as lower turnover. In addition, many of our data centers contain significant improvements that have been installed at our customers’ expense. The tenant improvements in our data centers are generally readily adaptable for use by similar customers.

Our data centers are physically secure, network-rich and equipped to meet the power and cooling requirements of smaller footprints up to the most demanding IT applications. Many of our data centers are located on major aggregation points formed by the physical presence of multiple major telecommunications service providers, which reduces our customers’ costs and operational risks and enhances the attractiveness of our properties. In addition, our strategically located global data center campuses offer our customers the ability to expand their global footprint as their businesses grow, while our connectivity offerings on our campuses enhance the capabilities and attractiveness of these facilities. Further, the network density, interconnection infrastructure and connectivity-centric customers in certain of our data

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centers has led to the organic formation of densely interconnected communities of interest that are difficult for competitors to replicate and deliver added value to our customers.

Our portfolio contains a total of approximately 43.6 million square feet, including approximately 5.4 million square feet of space under active development and approximately 2.3 million square feet of space held for future development. The 43 data centers held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures have an aggregate of approximately 4.7 million rentable square feet. The 34 parcels of developable land we own comprise approximately 927 acres. A significant component of our current and future growth is expected to be generated through the development of our existing space held for development and acquisition of new properties. As of December 31, 2020, our portfolio, including the 43 data centers held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures and excluding space under active development and space held for future development, was approximately 86.3% leased. From time to time we may look to sell individual assets or portfolios of assets that we do not consider to be core to our ongoing business strategy.

Our Diversified Product Offerings

We provide a flexible, global data center platform that allows our customers to tailor infrastructure deployments and controls matched to their business needs. Our data centers and comprehensive suite of product offerings are scalable to meet our customers’ needs, from a single rack or cabinet up to multi-megawatt deployments, along with connectivity, interconnection and solutions to support their hybrid cloud architecture requirements. Over the past few years, we have expanded our product mix to appeal to a broader spectrum of data center customers, especially those seeking to support a greater portion of their data center requirements through a single provider. Our Critical Facilities Management® services and team of technical engineers and data center operations experts provide 24/7 support for these mission-critical facilities.

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PlatformDIGITAL Solution Model. The PlatformDIGITAL® solution model is based on our Pervasive Datacenter™ architecture strategy, which brings users, networks, clouds, controls and systems to the data, removing barriers, creating centers of data exchange to accommodate distributed workflows and scaling digital business.

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Capacity

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The PlatformDIGITAL® solution model is available in our colocation and Turn-Key Flex® data centers, which are move-in ready, physically secure facilities with the power and cooling capabilities to support customers requiring a single rack or cabinet up to multi-megawatt deployments. We believe our colocation and Turn-Key Flex® facilities are effective solutions for customers who may lack the bandwidth, capital budget, expertise or desire to provide their own extensive data center infrastructure, management and security. We believe our offerings are also well-suited for those customers who seek to efficiently exchange data with others in our communities, lowering their costs and creating value for their business. For customers who possess the ability to build and operate their own facility, our Powered Base Building® solution provides the physical location, requisite power and network access necessary to support a state-of-the-art data center.

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Additionally, our data center campuses offer our customers the opportunity to expand in or near their existing deployments within our data center campuses.

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Connectivity

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Through our recent investments and strategic partnerships, we have significantly expanded our capabilities as a leading provider of interconnection and cloud-enablement services globally. We believe interconnection is an attractive line of business that would be difficult to build organically and enhances the overall value proposition of our data center product offerings. Furthermore, through product offerings such as our Service Exchange and Interxion Cloud Connect and partnerships with cloud service providers, we are able to support our customers’ hybrid cloud architecture requirements.

Our Global Customers

Our portfolio has attracted a high-quality, diversified mix of customers. We have more than 4,000 customers, and no single customer represented more than approximately 9.5% of the aggregate annualized rent of our portfolio as of December 31, 2020. We provide each customer access to a choice of highly customized solutions based on their scale, colocation, and interconnection needs.

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Global Customer Base across a Wide Variety of Industry Sectors. We use our in-depth knowledge of requirements for and trends impacting cloud and information technology service providers, content providers, network and communications providers, and other data center users, including enterprise customers, to market our data centers to meet these customers’ specific technology needs. Our customers are increasingly launching multi-regional deployments and growing with us globally. Our largest customer, accounted for approximately 9.5% of the aggregate annualized rent as of December 31, 2020 and no other single customer accounted for more than approximately 4.7% of the aggregate annualized rent of our portfolio. At December 31, 2020, our customers represented a variety of industry verticals, ranging from cloud and information technology services, communications and social networking to financial services, manufacturing, energy, gaming, life sciences and consumer products.

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Proven Experience Attracting and Retaining Customers. Our specialized data center salesforce, which is aligned to meet our customers’ needs for global, enterprise and network solutions, provides a robust pipeline of new customers, while existing customers continue to grow and expand their utilization of our technology-enabled services to support a greater portion of their IT needs.

Below is a summary of our leasing activity for the year ended December 31, 2020 (in millions):

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Our Design and Construction Program

Our extensive development activity, operating scale and process-based approach to data center design and construction result in significant cost savings and added value for our customers. We have leveraged our purchasing power by securing global purchasing agreements and developing relationships with major equipment manufacturers, reducing costs and shortening delivery timeframes on key components, including major mechanical and electrical equipment. Utilizing our innovative modular data center design, we deliver what we believe to be a technically superior data center environment at significant cost savings. In addition, by utilizing our modular design architecture to develop new distributed redundant solutions  in our existing Powered Base Building® facilities, on average we can deliver a fully commissioned facility in under 30 weeks. Finally, our access to capital and investment-grade ratings allow us to provide data center solutions for customers who do not want to invest their own capital.

Our Investment Approach

We have developed detailed, standardized procedures for evaluating acquisitions and investments, including income-producing properties as well as vacant buildings and land suitable for development, to ensure that they meet our strategic, financial, technical and other criteria. These procedures, together with our in-depth knowledge of the

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technology, data center and real estate industries, allow us to identify strategically located properties and evaluate investment opportunities efficiently and, as appropriate, commit and close quickly. Our investment-grade ratings, along with our broad network of contacts within the data center industry, enable us to effectively capitalize on acquisition and investment opportunities.

Our Management Team and Organization

Our senior management team has many years of experience in the technology and/or real estate industries, including experience as investors in and advisors to technology companies. We believe that our senior management team’s extensive knowledge of both the technology and the real estate industries provides us with a key competitive advantage. Further, a significant portion of compensation for our senior management team and directors is in the form of common equity interests in our Company. We also maintain minimum stock ownership requirements for our senior management team and directors, further aligning their interests with those of external stockholders, as well as an employee stock purchase plan, which encourages our employees to increase their ownership in the Company.

Our Business and Growth Strategies

Our primary business objectives are to maximize: (i) sustainable long-term growth in earnings and funds from operations per share and unit, (ii) cash flow and returns to our stockholders and our Operating Partnership’s unitholders through the payment of dividends and distributions and (iii) return on invested capital. We expect to accomplish these objectives by achieving superior risk-adjusted returns, prudently allocating capital, diversifying our product offerings, accelerating our global reach and scale, and driving revenue growth and operating efficiencies.

Superior Risk-Adjusted Returns. We believe that achieving appropriate risk-adjusted returns on our business, including on our development pipeline and leasing transactions, will deliver superior stockholder returns. At December 31, 2020, we had approximately 5.4 million square feet of space under active development. We may continue to build out our development pipeline when justified by anticipated returns. We have established robust internal guidelines for reviewing and approving leasing transactions, which we believe will drive risk-adjusted returns. We also believe that providing an even stronger value proposition to our customers, including new and more comprehensive product offerings, as well as continuing to improve operational efficiencies, will further drive improved returns for our business.

Prudently Allocate Capital. We believe that the strategic deployment of capital at sufficiently positive spreads above our cost of capital enables us to increase cash flow and create long-term stockholder value.

Strategic and Complementary Investments. We have developed significant expertise at underwriting, financing and executing data center investment opportunities. We employ a collaborative approach to deal analysis, risk management and asset allocation, focusing on key elements, such as market fundamentals, accessibility to fiber and power, and the local regulatory environment. In addition, the specialized nature of data centers makes these investment opportunities more difficult for traditional real estate investors to underwrite, resulting in reduced competition for investments relative to other property types. We believe this dynamic creates an opportunity for us to generate attractive risk-adjusted returns on our capital.

Preserve the Flexibility of Our Balance Sheet. We are committed to maintaining a conservative capital structure. We target a debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio at or less than 5.5x, fixed charge coverage of greater than three times, and floating rate debt at less than 20% of total outstanding debt. In addition, we strive to maintain a well-laddered debt maturity schedule, and we seek to maximize the menu of our available sources of capital, while minimizing the related cost. Since Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s initial public offering in 2004, we have raised approximately $48.1 billion of capital through common (excluding forward contracts), preferred and convertible preferred equity offerings, exchangeable debt offerings, non-exchangeable bond offerings, our global revolving credit facilities, our term loan facility, a senior notes shelf facility, secured mortgage financings and re-financings, joint venture partnerships and the sale of non-core assets. We endeavor to maintain financial flexibility while using our liquidity and access to capital to support operations, our acquisition, investment, leasing and development programs and global campus expansion, which are important sources of our growth.

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Leverage Technology to Develop Comprehensive and Diverse Products. We have diversified our product offering, through acquisitions and organically through leveraging innovative technologies, and believe that we have one of the most comprehensive suites of global data center solutions available to customers from a single provider.

Global Service Infrastructure Platform. With our recent acquisitions, which extend our footprint further across Latin America, Europe and Africa, enhanced our portfolio of scale and hyper-scale data centers in the U.S. and furthers our position as a leading provider of colocation, interconnection and cloud-enablement services globally, we are able to offer one of the industry’s broadest range of data center solutions to meet our customers’ needs, from a single rack or cabinet to multi-megawatt deployments. We believe our products like Service Exchange and our partnerships with managed services and cloud service providers further enhance the attractiveness of our data centers.

Provide Foundational Services to Enable Customers and Partners. We believe that the platform, through which we offer the foundational services of space, power and connectivity, will enable our customers and partners to serve their customers and grow their businesses. We believe our Internet gateway data centers, individual data centers and data center campuses are attractive to a wide variety of customers and partners of all sizes. Furthermore, we believe our colocation and interconnection offerings, as well as the densely connected communities of interest that have developed within our facilities, and the availability and scalability of our comprehensive suite of products are valuable and critical to our customers and partners.

Accelerate Global Reach and Scale. We have strategically pursued international expansion since our IPO in 2004 and now operate across six continents. We believe that our global multi-product data center portfolio is a foundational element of our strategy and our scale and global platform represent key competitive advantages difficult to replicate. Customers and competitors are recognizing the value of interconnected scale, which aligns with our connected campus strategy that enables customers to “land and expand” with us. We expect to continue to source and execute strategic and complementary transactions to strengthen our data center portfolio, expand our global footprint and product mix, and enhance our scale. In March 2019, we formed a joint venture with an affiliate of Brookfield Asset Management, and we retained a 51% equity interest in the joint venture which owns and operates Ascenty, a leading data center provider in Brazil, establishing Digital Realty as the premier data center solutions provider in the Latin America region. In March 2020, we completed the combination with Interxion, which expanded the combined company’s presence across Europe and Africa. As part of our global footprint, Interxion: A Digital Realty Company significantly strengthens our ability to connect businesses to clouds, ISPs, partners and customers, including more than 700 connectivity providers, around the world.

Drive Revenue Growth and Operating Efficiencies. We aggressively manage our properties to maximize cash flow and control costs by leveraging our scale to drive operating efficiencies.

Leverage Strong Industry Relationships. We use our strong industry relationships with international, national and regional corporate enterprise information technology groups and technology-intensive companies to identify and solve their data center needs. Our sales professionals are technology and real estate industry specialists who can develop complex facility solutions for the most demanding data center and other technology customers.

Maximize Cash Flow. We often acquire properties with substantial in-place cash flow and some vacancy, which enables us to create upside through lease-up. We control our costs by negotiating expense pass-through provisions in customer agreements for operating expenses, including power costs and certain capital expenditure. We have also focused on centralizing functions and optimizing operations as well as improving processes and technologies. We believe that expanding our global data center campuses will also contribute to operating efficiencies because we expect to achieve economies of scale on our campus environments.

Sustainability

We believe that addressing sustainability by driving environmental efficiency through the implementation of cost- effective design and use of carbon-free and renewable energy serves as a key differentiator enabling us to deliver products that help attract and retain customers, generate cash flow, and manage operational risks. In 2020, for the fourth

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consecutive year, we received the Nareit “Leader in the Light” award for data centers, recognizing our sustainability and energy-efficiency achievements. In 2020, we allocated €1.08 billion in net proceeds from our second green bond and also issued an additional €2.15 billion in green bonds to further our efforts to invest in green buildings, energy efficiency improvements, and renewable energy.

The Real Estate Sustainability Accounting Standard guidance, issued by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (“SASB”), outlines proposed disclosure topics and accounting metrics for the real estate industry. We provide data on energy and water management metrics that we believe best correlate with our business and industry as indicated in the following sections. Energy and water data receive third party assurance as part of our annual environmental, social, and governance (“ESG”) report development process.

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Energy Management

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We seek to certify all major new construction and redevelopment projects under US Green Building Council LEED Silver rating or equivalent certification. Our data center space receiving third-party sustainable ratings in 2020 totaled approximately 1.9 million square feet. We received the following sustainable data center ratings for all, or a portion of, the following sites:

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For existing buildings, we seek to benchmark 100% of properties in ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager and pursue EPA ENERGY STAR certification for eligible U.S. properties. In 2020, we achieved ENERGY STAR for Data Centers recognition for 31 data centers, representing 54% of our U.S. stabilized and managed data center portfolio by square feet. In total, 46% of our total global stabilized and managed portfolio by square feet has an energy rating as of December 31, 2019.⁽¹⁾

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Energy and resource management considerations are integrated into our business decisions and strategy. For our operating portfolio, annual capital expense investment planning identifies and evaluates resource efficiency project opportunities in a parallel track alongside non-resource-impacting capital investments. For acquisitions and new development activity, resiliency risks, resource availability, and renewable energy access are considered. Our design and construction process is intended to incorporate sustainable features that support resource efficiency during construction as well as during eventual operational activity at the sites.

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We seek to proactively identify and support opportunities to efficiently utilize resources, such as energy and water, throughout our operating portfolio. We have a colocation power usage effectiveness (PUE) improvement goal of 10% by 2022 against a 2017 baseline and UK Climate Change Agreement energy reduction goals for our UK properties. Our EMEA colocation portfolio participates in the European Union’s Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency in Data Centers, a voluntary initiative which addresses airflow management, cooling system efficiency and capital plant replacement. Globally, we conduct external technical building assessments as well as utilize ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager scores to prioritize efficiency opportunities. Energy efficiency measures implemented typically involve HVAC and lighting-related improvements and building commissioning. In 2019, more than 40 energy efficiency measures were implemented, totaling over 14,100 MWh in projected energy savings.

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In 2020, our Company set a global carbon reduction target with the Science-Based Target Initiative (SBTi). We have committed to reducing our Scope 1 and 2 emissions 68% per square foot and Scope 3 emissions from purchased goods and services and fuel- and energy-related activities 24% per square foot by 2030. We continue to match 100% of our EMEA portfolio and US colocation business units with renewable energy. In 2020, we entered into an 89 MW retail supply agreement and a 65 MW solar power purchase agreement, both to support our Dallas portfolio. Our Texas and Illinois wind and Virginia and North Carolina solar power purchase agreements produced 698,960 MWh of renewable energy credits in 2020.

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We implement ISO 14001 (Environmental Management) and ISO 50001 (Energy Management) to measure, manage and improve the energy and environmental performance of our data centers. In 2019, 94% of our EMEA portfolio and 32% of our global portfolio had ISO 14001 certifications and 100% of our EMEA portfolio and 10% of our global portfolio was covered under ISO 50001. Additionally, 100% of our Singapore portfolio was certified under the SS564 Green Data Centres standard for Energy and Environmental Management Systems.

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Water Management

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Some of our assets are in regions of high or extremely high baseline water stress and may face future risk of water scarcity, higher water costs, and regulatory constraints on water consumption. We consider water availability, cost, and alternate supply solutions to potable water such as municipally supplied non-potable reclaimed water, which accounted for 43% of our total water usage in 2019. We also consider cooling system designs to maximize ‘free cooling’ and reduce or eliminate reliance on access to water for cooling. In 2019, we announced a program that would expand the Company’s efforts to optimize water use through water reduction, reuse and recycling projects.

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Management of Tenant Sustainability Impacts

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We seek to incorporate “green lease” language into agreements with new customers where energy is separately metered, and we endeavor to incorporate green lease language into renewals. We launched our green lease program for applicable contract types to better align interests between landlord and tenants to incentivize energy and resource efficiency investments, share energy and water usage data, streamline renewable energy procurement and support sustainable building certifications.

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Climate Change Adaptation

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Nine U.S. data centers totaling about 990,900 square feet are located in 100-year flood zones designated by the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (“FEMA”) as special flood hazard areas (“SFHA”). No other non-U.S. sites are in 100-year flood zones or similar high hazard locations.

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We evaluate potential risks and opportunities as a result of climate change and have implemented strategies to mitigate risks and utilize opportunities. Climate change risks that we have identified include acute and chronic physical risks, as well as transition risks such as market, policy, reputational, and technology risks. Management of climate-related risks and opportunities is a company-wide priority, delivered through an interdisciplinary effort with contributions from our global operations team, risk management, environmental occupational health and safety, compliance, information security, physical security and other functions, with oversight by our Executive Leadership Team and governed by our Board of Directors. We manage potential risks first via our siting and design standards, then by implementing recommendations to proactively mitigate losses related to short-term acute weather events as well as long-term climate-related events. Climate resilience measures include maintaining appropriate levels of insurance for each asset, performing climate risk scenario analyses for a sample selection of our global portfolio, and implementing operational risk reduction measures at the site level. We continue to align our ESG Report with the recommendations of the Financial Stability Board’s Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”) to disclose specific climate-related financial risks and opportunities, mitigation strategies, and associated metrics and targets.

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Competition

We compete with numerous data center providers globally, many of whom own or operate properties similar to ours in some of the same metropolitan areas where our data centers are located, including Equinix, Inc. and NTT; CoreSite Realty Corporation, CyrusOne Inc., QTS Realty Trust, Inc., Switch, Inc. and various local developers in the U.S.; as well as Global Switch Holdings Limited and various regional operators in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia. See "We face significant competition, which may adversely affect the occupancy and rental rates of our data centers." in Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Regulation

General

Our properties are subject to various laws, ordinances and regulations, including regulations relating to common areas. We believe each of our properties as of December 31, 2020 has the necessary permits and approvals to operate.

Americans with Disabilities Act

Our properties must comply with Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or the ADA, to the extent that such properties are “public accommodations” as defined by the ADA. We believe our properties are in substantial compliance with the ADA and that we will not be required to make substantial capital expenditures to address the requirements of the ADA. However, non-compliance with the ADA could result in imposition of fines or an award of damages to private litigants. The obligation to make accommodations in accordance with the ADA, as well as other applicable laws and regulations is an ongoing one, and we will continue to assess our properties and make alterations as appropriate in this respect. See “We may incur significant costs complying with applicable laws and governmental regulations, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.” in Item 1A. Risk Factors.

Environmental Matters

We are exposed to various environmental risks that may result in unanticipated losses and could affect our operating results and financial condition. Either the previous owners or we have conducted environmental reviews on a majority of the properties we have acquired, including land. While some of these assessments have led to further investigation and sampling, none of the environmental assessments have revealed an environmental liability that we believe would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operations. See "We could incur significant costs related to environmental matters, including from government regulation, private litigation, and existing conditions at some of our properties." in Item 1A. Risk Factors for further discussion.

Insurance

We carry commercial general liability, property, and business interruption insurance, including rental income loss coverage on all of the properties in our portfolio under a blanket program. We select policy specifications and insured limits which we believe to be appropriate given the relative risk of loss, the cost of coverage, and industry practice. We believe the properties in our portfolio are adequately insured. We do not carry insurance for generally uninsured exposures such as loss from war or nuclear reaction. In addition, we carry earthquake insurance on our properties in an amount and with deductibles we believe are commercially reasonable. We intend to partially fund the earthquake insurance deductibles through a captive insurance company we established. Certain of the properties in our portfolio are located in areas known to be seismically active. See “Potential losses may not be covered by insurance.” in Item 1A. Risk Factors.

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Human Capital Resource Management

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As of December 31, 2020, we had 2,878 full-time employees. The geographic distribution of our global employee base as of December 31, 2020 is summarized in the following table.

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Compensation, Benefits and Employee Wellbeing

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To attract and retain the best-qualified talent and to help our employees stay healthy, balance their work and personal lives, and meet their financial and retirement goals, we offer competitive benefits, including market-competitive compensation, healthcare, flexible vacation, parental leave, 401(k) company match, an employee stock purchase plan, fitness reimbursement program, commuter benefits, tuition reimbursement, employee skills development and leadership development. Employee surveys are conducted annually to solicit feedback and to help prioritize and improve employee engagement.

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We also encourage our employees to give back to the community by matching their contributions to eligible charitable organizations through our Matching Gifts Program. Additionally, our Donate 8 Program grants paid time off each year to employees for the purpose of volunteering for eligible organizations. We also sponsor and support the Women’s Leadership Forum and the Veterans Employee Group, which promote a diverse and inclusive network to grow and deliver the next wave of digital innovation.

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We prioritize providing programs and benefits that promote healthy and productive lifestyles. We offer a company-wide wellness program, Wellness@Digital, that serves to invest in the health, fitness, financial wellness and overall quality of life for our employees. We implement wellness challenges that promote physical activity and an active lifestyle, with additional price incentivizes for winners of the challenges.

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During the COVID-19 pandemic, we augmented our mental-health offerings for employees through our company-provided Employee Assistance Program. In recognition of the unique challenges that we faced in 2020, all employees, other than our Senior Vice Presidents and more senior officers received a special bonus of $1,000. We also doubled our corporate match under our Matching Gifts Program.  Additionally and amidst the pandemic globally and civil unrest in the U.S., we sought to play an active role in supporting the communities we operate in.  This included a $1 million global philanthropic commitment to charitable organizations including The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s COVID-19 relief fund, and a gift to the Equal Justice Initiative.

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Diversity and Inclusion

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It is our Company’s policy to recruit talent based on skill, knowledge, attitude and experience, without discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, age, family status, ethnic origin, nationality, disability or religious belief. In 2020, we formally launched our DEI Employee Leadership Council to assess the current state of our diversity, equity and inclusion (“DEI”) initiatives beyond the Women’s Leadership Forum and Veteran’s employee resource groups. The Council will identify future opportunities for progress, formulate a cohesive strategy, and ultimately lead our global DEI effort. The DEI Council is led by employees spanning various management levels and global regions with program support from our executive management team. Additionally, our Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein has signed the CEO Action Pledge for Diversity & Inclusion, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Mr. Stein is Co-Chair of Nareit’s Dividends through Diversity, Equity & Inclusion CEO Council, seeking to advance diversity and inclusion throughout our industry. We disclose our DEI strategy and initiatives annually in our ESG Report.

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COVID-19 Health and Safety

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As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have put into place a number of health and safety measures to enable our operations teams to continue to work from our data centers and construction sites. We require social distancing in accordance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) and local health agency guidelines, have made modifications to our facilities, including posting signage detailing health and safety protocols, engage in regular sanitation, and require all visitors and employees to wear facial coverings. We have also modified staffing levels to avoid potential cross contamination among teams, and have instituted customer, employee and visitor screening. Together with our operations teams, we have implemented innovative approaches to maintain our high standards of customer service, including virtual data center tours to ensure that activities typically accomplished on-site or in-person continued throughout periods of reduced travel. Our non-essential and corporate personnel adopted a work-from-home approach beginning in March 2020, which has continued past the end of the year without significant impacts to productivity. We expect our corporate offices to remain largely closed through at least mid-year 2021. Refer to the discussion in Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis for further information related to the impact of the pandemic on our business.

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Available Information

All reports we file with the SEC are available free of charge via EDGAR through the SEC website at www.sec.gov. We will also provide copies of our Forms 8-K, Forms 10-K, Forms 10-Q, Proxy Statements and amendments to those documents at no charge to investors upon request and make electronic copies of such reports available through our website at www.digitalrealty.com as soon as reasonably practicable after filing such material with the SEC. The information found on, or otherwise accessible through, our website is not incorporated by reference into, nor does it form a part of, this report or any other document that we file with the SEC.

Offices

Our headquarters are located in Austin, Texas. We have regional U.S. offices in Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, Northern Virginia, Phoenix and San Francisco and regional international offices in Amsterdam, Dublin, London, São Paulo, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Reports to Security Holders

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is required to send an annual report to its securityholders and to our Operating Partnership’s unitholders.

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ITEM 1A.      RISK FACTORS

For purposes of this section, the term “stockholders” means the holders of shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock and preferred stock. Set forth below are the risks that we believe are material to Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders. You should carefully consider the following factors in evaluating our Company, our properties and our business. The occurrence of any of the following risks might cause Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders to lose all or a part of their investment. Some statements in this report, including statements in the following risk factors, constitute forward-looking statements. Please refer to the section entitled “Forward-Looking Statements” starting on page 46.

Overview

Our business, operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described below, that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and the trading price of our common stock and preferred stock. The following material factors, among others, could cause our actual results to differ materially from historical results and those expressed in forward-looking statements made by us or on our behalf in filings with the SEC, press releases, communications with investors and oral statements. The risks that

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we describe in our public filings are not the only risks that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or that we currently consider immaterial, also may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Risk Factors Summary

The following is a summary of the principal risks that could adversely affect our business, operations and financial results.

Risk Related to Our Business and Operations

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Risks Related to the Organizational Structure

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Risks Related to Taxes and Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Status as a REIT

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Risks Related to Our Business and Operations

Our business and operations, and our customers, suppliers and business partners may be adversely affected by epidemics, pandemics or other outbreaks.

Epidemics, pandemics or other outbreaks of an illness, disease or virus that affect countries or regions in which we or our customers, suppliers or business partners operate, and actions taken to contain or prevent their further spread, may have a material and adverse impact on general commercial activity and on our financial condition, results of operations, liquidity and creditworthiness. Epidemics, pandemics or other outbreaks of an illness, disease or virus could result in significant governmental measures being implemented to control the spread of such illness, disease or virus, including quarantines, travel restrictions, manufacturing restrictions, declarations of states of emergency, business shutdowns, prioritization and allocation of resources, and restrictions on the movement of our employees and those of our customers, suppliers and business partners on which we rely, which could adversely affect our ability and their respective abilities to adequately manage our respective businesses. Risks related to epidemics, pandemics or other outbreaks of an illness, disease or virus could also lead to the complete or partial closure of one or more of our offices or properties or our customers’, suppliers’ or business partners’ businesses, or otherwise result in significant disruptions to our business and operations or theirs. Such events could materially and adversely impact our operations and the rental revenue we generate from our agreements with our customers or could result in defaults by our customers.

As with COVID-19, we may institute policies requiring employees to work remotely in certain cases and such policies may remain in place for an indeterminate amount of time or may be made mandatory by relevant government authorities. There can be no assurance that remote working arrangements will be as effective as an office environment. Moreover, pandemics or outbreaks of an illness, disease or virus could disrupt our supply chain and development activities, which could impact our ability to meet delivery timelines, including delivery timelines to our customers, and lead to delays, potential penalties that we may be required to pay and potential terminations of agreements by our customers. If any such delay or disruption were to occur, it could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and financial condition. In addition, risks related to epidemics, pandemics or other outbreaks of an illness, disease or virus may adversely affect the economies in impacted countries, including in locations where we operate, and the global financial markets, including the global debt and equity capital markets, may experience significant volatility, potentially leading to an economic downturn that could adversely affect our and our customers’, suppliers’ and business partners’ respective businesses, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and prospects. We have in the past and expect in the future to rely on the availability of debt and equity capital to grow our business; however, there can be no assurance that such capital will be available to us going forward on acceptable terms or at all. The ultimate extent of the impact of any epidemic, pandemic or other outbreak of an illness, disease or virus on our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and prospects will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information that may emerge concerning the severity of such epidemics, pandemics or other outbreaks of an illness, disease or virus and actions taken to contain or prevent their further spread, among others. These and other potential impacts of epidemics, pandemics or other outbreaks of an illness, disease or virus could therefore materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, liquidity, results of operations and prospects.

In particular, the global spread of COVID-19 and the various attempts to contain it have created significant volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption. The global impact of the outbreak has been rapidly evolving and federal and local governments, including in locations where we operate, have responded by instituting quarantines, restrictions on travel, “shelter in place” rules, restrictions on the types of business that may continue to operate, and restrictions on various construction projects. In response to government mandates, health care advisories and otherwise responding to employee and vendor concerns, we have altered certain aspects of our operations. Our workforce, excluding our critical data center employees, is working from home, which may impact their productivity. We have also experienced delays in construction activity in a few of our markets due to government restrictions in specific locations and as a result of availability of labor and these delays are impacting some of our anticipated deliveries to our customers. We may continue to experience delays in construction activity, even after these restrictions are eased or lifted, due to increased safety protocols implemented in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition, we cannot predict the impact that COVID-19 will have on our customers, suppliers and other business partners; however, any material effect on these parties could adversely impact us. We have received requests for rent relief related to COVID-19, most often in the form of rent deferral requests or requests for further discussion, from

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customers representing approximately 3% of annualized base rent. We are evaluating each customer rent relief request on an individual basis, considering a number of factors. While we did not have any material adjustments to amounts as of and during the year ended December 31, 2020, circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic could potentially result in recording impairments, lease modifications and credit losses in future periods.

While we did not experience significant disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic during the year ended December 31, 2020 nor as of the date of this report, we cannot predict what impact the COVID-19 pandemic may have on our future financial condition, results of operations and cash flows due to numerous uncertainties. The full extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic and the various responses to it impacts our business, operations and financial results will depend on numerous evolving factors that we may not be able to accurately predict, including: the duration and scope of the pandemic; governmental, business and individuals’ actions that have been and continue to be taken in response to the pandemic; the availability of and cost to access the capital markets; the effect on our customers and customer demand for and ability to pay for our services; the impact on our development projects; and disruptions or restrictions on our employees’ ability to work and travel. Furthermore, we cannot predict whether additional restrictions will be implemented or how long they will be in effect. Although some governments have begun to ease or lift these restrictions, the impacts from the severe disruptions caused by the effective shutdown of large segments of the global economy remain unknown.

Our business depends upon the demand for data centers.

We are in the business of owning, acquiring, developing and operating data centers. A reduction in the demand for data center space, power or connectivity would have a greater adverse effect on our business and financial condition than if we owned a portfolio with a less specialized use. Our substantial development activities make us particularly susceptible to general economic slowdowns as well as adverse developments in the data center, Internet and data communications and broader technology industries. Any such slowdown or adverse development could lead to reduced corporate IT spending or reduced demand for data center space. Reduced demand could also result from business relocations, including to metropolitan areas that we do not currently serve. Changes in industry practice or in technology could also reduce demand for the physical data center space we provide. In addition, our customers may choose to develop new data centers or expand their own existing data centers or consolidate into data centers that we do not own or operate, which could reduce demand for our newly developed data centers or result in the loss of one or more key customers. If any of our key customers were to do so, it could result in a loss of business to us or put pressure on our pricing. Mergers or consolidations of technology companies could reduce further the number of our customers and potential customers and make us more dependent on a more limited number of customers. If our customers merge with or are acquired by other entities that are not our customers, they may discontinue or reduce the use of our data centers in the future. Our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations could be materially adversely affected as a result of any or all of these factors.

We face significant competition, which may adversely affect the occupancy and rental rates of our data centers.

We compete with numerous data center providers globally, many of whom own or operate properties similar to ours in some of the same metropolitan areas where our data centers are located, including Equinix, Inc. and NTT; CoreSite Realty Corporation, CyrusOne Inc., QTS Realty Trust, Inc., Switch, Inc. and various local developers in the U.S.; as well as Global Switch Holdings Limited and various regional operators in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia. In addition, we may in the future face competition from new entrants into the data center market, including new entrants who may acquire our current competitors. Some of our competitors and potential competitors have significant advantages over us, including greater name recognition, longer operating histories, pre-existing relationships with current or potential customers, significantly greater financial, marketing and other resources and more ready access to capital which allow them to respond more quickly to new or changing opportunities.

If our competitors offer space that our customers or potential customers perceive to be superior to ours based on factors such as available power, security, location, or connectivity, or if they offer rental rates below current market rates, or below the rental rates we are offering, we may lose customers or potential customers or be required to incur costs to improve our data centers or reduce our rental rates. In addition, recently many of our competitors have developed and continue to develop additional data center space. If the supply of data center space continues to increase as a result of these activities or otherwise, rental rates may be reduced or we may face delays in leasing or be unable to

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lease our vacant space, including space that we develop. Further, if customers or potential customers desire services that we do not offer, we may not be able to lease our space to those customers. Our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations could be materially adversely affected as a result of any or all of these factors.

Any failure of our physical infrastructure or services could lead to significant costs and disruptions.

Our business depends on providing customers with highly reliable services, including with respect to power supply, physical security and maintenance of environmental conditions. We may fail to provide such service as a result of numerous factors, including mechanical failure, power outage, human error, physical or electronic security breaches, war, terrorism, fire, earthquake, pandemics, hurricane, flood and other natural disasters, sabotage and vandalism.

Problems at one or more of our data centers, whether or not within our control, could result in service interruptions or equipment damage. Substantially all of our customer agreements include terms requiring us to meet certain service level commitments to our customers. Any failure to meet these or other commitments or any equipment damage in our data centers, including as a result of mechanical failure, power outage, human error or other reasons, could subject us to liability under the terms of our customer agreements, including service level credits against customer rent payments, monetary damages, or, in certain cases of repeated failures, the right by the customer to terminate the agreement. Service interruptions, equipment failures or security breaches may also expose us to additional legal liability and monetary damages and damage our brand and reputation, and could cause our customers to terminate or not renew their agreements. In addition, we may be unable to attract new customers if we have a reputation for service disruptions, equipment failures or physical or electronic security breaches in our data centers. Any such failures could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be vulnerable to breaches, or unauthorized access to, or disruption of our physical and information security infrastructure and systems.

Security breaches, or disruption, of our or our customers’ physical or information technology infrastructure, networks and related management systems could result in, among other things, unauthorized access to our facilities, a breach of our and our customers’ networks and information technology infrastructure, the misappropriation of our or our customers’ or their customers’ proprietary or confidential information, interruptions or malfunctions in our or our customers’ operations, delays or interruptions to our ability to meet customer needs, breach of our legal, regulatory or contractual obligations, inability to access or rely upon critical business records or other disruptions in our operations. We may be required to expend significant financial resources to protect against or to remediate such security breaches. We may not be able to implement security measures in a timely manner or, if and when implemented, these measures could be circumvented. Any breaches that may occur could expose us to increased risk of lawsuits, material monetary damages, potential violations of applicable privacy and other laws, penalties and fines, loss of existing or potential customers, harm to our reputation and increases in our security and insurance costs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Although our customers’ computing equipment resides in our buildings, in most cases we do not have access to, nor do we have knowledge of, what applications and data are being housed and processed on their equipment. In the event of a breach resulting in loss of data, such as personally identifiable information or other such data protected by data privacy or other laws, we may be liable for damages, fines and penalties for such losses under applicable regulatory frameworks despite not handling the data. Further, the regulatory framework around data custody, data privacy and breaches varies by jurisdiction and is an evolving area of law. For example, the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and any subsequent amended versions of it, and similar regulations may have significant impact on our operations. If we fail to comply with these various regulations, we may have to pay fines or damages. We may not be able to limit our liability or damages in the event of such a loss.

We have made significant investments to update and improve our information technology systems and expect such investments to continue in order to meet our business needs, including for ongoing improvements for our customer experience. Transitioning to new or upgraded systems can create difficulties, including potential disruptions to current processes and security complexities. In addition, our information technology systems may require further modification as we grow and as our business needs change, which could prolong difficulties we experience with transitions. Such significant investments in our systems may take longer to deploy and cost more than originally planned. In addition, we may not realize the full benefits we hoped to achieve and we may need to expend significant attention, time and

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resources to correct problems or find alternative sources for performing various functions. Difficulties in implementing new or upgraded information technology systems or significant system failures or delays or the failure to successfully modify our systems and respond to changes in our business needs could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We depend on significant customers, and many of our data centers are single-tenant properties or are currently occupied by single tenants.

As of December 31, 2020, the 20 largest customers in our portfolio represented approximately 48.8% of the total annualized rent generated by our properties. Our top three customers leased approximately 5.5 million square feet of net rentable space as of December 31, 2020, representing approximately 18.5% of the total annualized rent generated by our properties. In addition, 64 of our 291 data centers are occupied by single customers, including data centers occupied solely by our top three customers. Many factors, including global economic conditions, may cause our customers to experience a downturn in their businesses or otherwise experience a lack of liquidity, which may weaken their financial condition and impact our estimates as to the probability of collectability of payments, and ultimately result in their failure to make timely rental and other payments or their default under their agreements with us. Further, the development of new technologies, the adoption of new industry standards or other factors could render many of our customers’ current products and services obsolete or unmarketable and contribute to a downturn in their businesses, thereby increasing the likelihood that they default under their leases, become insolvent or file for bankruptcy. If any customer defaults or fails to make timely rent or other payments, we may experience delays in enforcing our rights as landlord and may incur substantial costs in protecting our investment, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

If any customer becomes a debtor in a case under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, we cannot evict the customer solely because of the bankruptcy. In addition, the bankruptcy court might authorize the customer to reject and terminate its contracts with us. Our claim against the customer for unpaid, future rent and other payments would be subject to a statutory cap that might be substantially less than the remaining amounts actually owed under their agreements with us. In either case, our claim for unpaid rent and other amounts would likely not be paid in full. Our revenue and cash available for distribution could be materially adversely affected if any of our significant customers were to become bankrupt or insolvent, suffer a downturn in their businesses, fail to renew their contracts or renew on terms less favorable to us than their current terms. As of February 26, 2021, we had no material customers in bankruptcy.

Failure to attract, grow and retain a diverse and balanced customer base, including key magnet customers, could harm our business and operating results.

Our ability to attract, grow and retain a diverse and balanced customer base, consisting of enterprises, cloud service providers, network service providers, and digital economy customers, some of which we consider to be key magnets drawing in other customers, may affect our ability to maximize our revenues. Dense and desirable customer concentrations within a facility enable us to better generate significant interconnection revenues, which in turn increases our overall revenues. Our ability to attract customers to our data centers will depend on a variety of factors, including our product offerings, the presence of carriers, the overall mix of customers, the presence of key customers attracting business through ecosystems, the data center’s operating reliability and security and our ability to effectively market our product offerings. Our inability to develop, provide or effectively execute any of these factors may hinder the development, growth and retention of a diverse and balanced customer base and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our contracts with our customers could subject us to significant liability.

In the ordinary course of business, we enter into agreements with our customers pursuant to which we provide data center space, power and connectivity products to our customers. These contracts typically contain indemnification and liability provisions, in addition to service level commitments, which could potentially impose a significant cost on us in the event of losses arising out of certain breaches of such agreements, services to be provided by us or our subcontractors or from third-party claims. Customers increasingly are looking to pass through their regulatory obligations and other liabilities to their outsourced data center providers and we may not be able to limit our liability or damages in an event of loss suffered by such customers whether as a result of our breach of an agreement or otherwise.  Further, liabilities and standards for damages and enforcement actions, including the regulatory framework applicable to different types of losses, vary by jurisdiction, and we may be subject to greater liability for certain losses in certain jurisdictions.

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Additionally, in connection with our acquisitions, we have assumed existing agreements with customers that may subject us to greater liability for such an event of loss. If such an event of loss occurred, we could be liable for material monetary damages and could incur significant legal fees in defending against such an action, which could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Certain of our customer agreements may include restrictions on the sale of our properties to certain third parties, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

Certain of our customer agreements may give the customer a right of first refusal to purchase certain properties if we propose to sell those properties to a third party or prohibit us from selling certain properties to a third party that is a competitor of the customer. The existence of such restrictions could hinder our ability to sell one or more of these properties, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our data centers may not be suitable for re-leasing without significant expenditures or renovations.

Because many of our data centers contain tenant improvements installed at our customers’ expense, they may be better suited for a specific data center user or technology industry customer and could require significant modification in order for us to re-lease vacant space to another data center user or technology industry customer. The tenant improvements may also become outdated or obsolete as the result of technological change, the passage of time or other factors. In addition, our development space will generally require substantial improvement to be suitable for data center use. For the same reason, our properties also may not be suitable for leasing to traditional office customers without significant expenditures or renovations.

As a result, we may be required to invest significant amounts or offer significant discounts to customers in order to lease or re-lease that space, either of which could adversely affect our financial and operating results.

We may be unable to lease vacant or development space, renew leases, or re-lease space as leases expire.

At December 31, 2020, we owned approximately 5.4 million square feet of space under active development and approximately 2.3 million square feet of space held for future development. We intend to continue to add new space to our development inventory and to continue to develop additional space from this inventory. A portion of the space that we develop has been, and may continue to be, developed on a speculative basis, meaning that we do not have a signed customer agreement for the space when we begin the development process. We also develop space specifically for customers pursuant to agreements signed prior to beginning the development process. In those cases, if we fail to meet our development obligations under those agreements, these customers may be able to terminate the agreements and we would be required to find a new customer for this space. In addition, in certain circumstances we lease data center facilities prior to their completion. If we fail to complete the facilities in a timely manner, the customer may be entitled to terminate its agreement, seek damages or penalties against us or pursue other remedies and we may be required to find a new customer for the space. We cannot assure you that once we have developed space or land we will be able to successfully lease it at all, or at rates we consider favorable or expected at the time we commenced development. Further, once development of a data center facility is complete, we incur certain operating expenses even if there are no customers occupying any space. If we are not able to complete development in a timely manner or successfully lease the space that we develop, if development costs are higher than we currently estimate, or if rental rates are lower than expected when we began the project or are otherwise undesirable, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations could be materially adversely affected.

In addition, as of December 31, 2020, customer agreements representing 26.0% of the square footage of the properties in our portfolio, excluding month-to-month leases and space held for development, were scheduled to expire through 2022, and an additional 14.7% of the net rentable square footage, excluding space held for development, was available to be leased. Some of this space may require substantial capital investment to meet the power and cooling requirements of our customers, or may no longer be suitable for their needs. In addition, we cannot assure you that customer agreements will be renewed or that our properties will be re-leased at all, or at net effective rental rates equal to or above the current average net effective rental rates. If the rental rates for our properties decrease, our existing customers do not renew their agreements, we do not lease or re-lease our available space, including newly developed space and space for which customer agreements are scheduled to expire, or it takes longer for us to lease or re-lease this

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space or for rents to commence on this space, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations could be materially adversely affected.

Additionally, a customer’s decision to lease space and power in one of our data centers and to purchase additional products typically involves a significant commitment of resources and due diligence on the part of our customers regarding the adequacy of our facilities. As a result, the leasing of data center space can have a long sales cycle, and we may expend significant time and resources in pursuing a particular transaction that may not result in revenue. Economic conditions, including market downturns, may further impact this long sales cycle by making it difficult for customers to plan future business activities, which could cause customers to slow spending or delay decision-making. Our inability to adequately manage the risks associated with the sales cycle may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Even if we have additional space available for lease at any one of our data centers, our ability to lease this space to existing or new customers could be constrained by our ability to provide sufficient electrical power.

As current and future customers increase their power footprint in our data centers over time, the corresponding reduction in available power could limit our ability to increase occupancy rates or network density within our existing data centers. Furthermore, at certain of our data centers, our aggregate maximum contractual obligation to provide power and cooling to our customers may exceed the physical capacity at such data centers if customers were to quickly increase their demand for power and cooling. If we are not able to increase the available power and/or cooling or move the customer to another location within our data centers with sufficient power and cooling to meet such demand, we could lose the customer as well as be exposed to liability under our customer agreements. In addition, our power and cooling systems are difficult and expensive to upgrade. Accordingly, we may not be able to efficiently upgrade or change these systems to meet new demands without incurring significant costs that we may not be able to pass on to our customers. Any such material loss of customers, liability or additional costs could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

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Our portfolio depends upon local economic conditions and is geographically concentrated in certain locations.

Our portfolio is located in 49 metropolitan areas. As of December 31, 2020, our portfolio, including the 43 data centers held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures, was geographically concentrated in the following metropolitan areas:

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Some of these areas have experienced downturns in recent years. We depend upon the local economic conditions in these areas, including local real estate conditions, and our operations, revenue and cash available for distribution could be materially adversely affected by a downturn in local economic conditions in these areas. Our operations may also be affected if too many competing properties are built in any of these areas or supply otherwise increases or exceeds demand. We cannot assure you that these locations will grow or will remain favorable to data center investments or operations. In addition, we are currently developing data centers in certain of these metropolitan areas. Any negative changes in real estate, technology or economic conditions in these metropolitan areas in particular could negatively impact our performance.

We lease or sublease certain of our data center space from third parties and the ability to retain these leases or subleases could be a significant risk to our ongoing operations.

We do not own all the buildings in our portfolio. These leased buildings accounted for approximately 15% of our total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2020. In addition, we may acquire additional leased data center space or businesses that lease facilities instead of owning them. Our business could be harmed if we are unable to renew the leases for these data centers on favorable terms or at all. Additionally, in several of our smaller facilities we sublease our space, and our rights under these subleases are dependent on our sublandlord retaining its rights under the prime lease. When the initial terms of our existing leases expire, we generally have the right to extend the terms of our leases for one or more renewal periods, subject to, in the case of several of our subleases, our sublandlord renewing its term under the prime lease. If renewal rates are less favorable than those we currently have, we may be required to increase revenues within existing data centers to offset such increase in lease payments. Failure to increase revenues to sufficiently offset these projected higher costs could adversely impact our operating income. Upon the end of our renewal options, we would have to renegotiate our lease terms with the applicable landlords.

Additionally, if we are unable to renew the lease at any of our data centers, we could lose customers due to the disruptions in their operations caused by the relocation. We could also lose those customers that choose our data centers based on their locations. The costs of relocating data center infrastructure equipment, such as generators, power distribution units and cooling units, to different data centers could be prohibitive and, as such, we could lose the value of this equipment. For these reasons, any lease that cannot be renewed could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may experience supply chain or procurement disruptions, or increased supply chain costs, which may lead to construction delays.

The development of our data centers requires the timely delivery of required equipment and materials. We rely on third parties to provide the equipment and materials needed for our construction and development needs. Our global supply chain and development activities could be impacted by disruptions, such as political events, international trade disputes, war, terrorism, natural disasters, public health issues, industrial accidents, pandemics and other business interruptions, which could impact our ability to meet delivery timelines, including delivery timelines to our customers, and lead to delays, reputational damage, potential penalties that we may be required to pay and potential terminations of agreements by our customers. If any such delay or disruption were to occur, it could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity and financial condition. Changes in the costs of procuring materials and equipment used in our construction and development programs, including vendor costs, or changes in our relationships with vendors, could have an adverse effect on our results of operations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have actively monitored our vendors and suppliers and remain in frequent communication with customers, contractors and suppliers. We have proactively managed our supply chain, and we believe we have secured the vast majority of the equipment needed to complete our 2021 development activities. To date, we have not observed any significant disruption to our supply chain or procurement process due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the full extent and impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our future supply chain and procurement process cannot be reasonably estimated at this time and it could have a material adverse impact on our business and financial condition.

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We may not be able to adapt to changing technologies and customer requirements, and our data center infrastructure may become obsolete.

The technology industry generally and specific industries in which certain of our customers operate are characterized by rapidly changing technology, customer requirements and industry standards. New systems to deliver power to or eliminate heat in data centers or the development of new server technology that does not require the levels of critical load and heat removal that our facilities are designed to provide and could be run less expensively on a different platform could make our data center infrastructure obsolete. Our power and cooling systems are difficult and expensive to upgrade, and we may not be able to efficiently upgrade or change these systems to meet new demands without incurring significant costs that we may not be able to pass on to our customers which could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the infrastructure that connects our data centers to the Internet and other external networks may become insufficient, including with respect to latency, reliability and connectivity. We may not be able to adapt to changing technologies or meet customer demands for new processes or technologies in a timely and cost-effective manner, if at all, which would adversely impact our ability to sustain and grow our business.

Further, our inability to adapt to changing customer requirements may make our data centers obsolete or unmarketable to such customers. Some of our customers operate at significant scale across numerous data center facilities and have designed cloud and computing networks with redundancies and fail-over capabilities across these facilities, which enhances the resiliency of their networks and applications. As a result, these customers may realize cost benefits by locating their data center operations in facilities with less electrical or mechanical infrastructure redundancy than is found in our existing data center facilities. Additionally, some of our customers have begun to operate their data centers using a wider range of humidity levels and at temperatures that are higher than servers customarily have operated at in the past, all of which may result in energy cost savings for these customers. We may not be able to operate our existing data centers under these environmental conditions, particularly in multi-tenant facilities with other customers who are not willing to operate under these conditions, and our data centers could be at a competitive disadvantage to facilities that satisfy such requirements. Because we may not be able to modify the redundancy levels or environmental systems of our existing data centers cost effectively, these or other changes in customer requirements could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Additionally, due to regulations that apply to our customers as well as industry standards, such as ISO and SOC certifications which customers may deem desirable, they may seek specific requirements from their data centers that we are unable to provide. If new or different regulations or standards are adopted or such extra requirements are demanded by our customers, we could lose some customers or be unable to attract new customers in certain industries, which could materially and adversely affect our operations.

We depend upon third-party suppliers for power, and we are vulnerable to service failures and to price increases by such suppliers and to volatility in the supply and price of power in the open market.

We rely on third parties to provide power to our data centers, and we cannot ensure that these third parties will deliver such power in adequate quantities or on a consistent basis. If the amount of power available to us is inadequate to support our customer requirements, we may be unable to satisfy our obligations to our customers or grow our business. In addition, our data centers may be susceptible to power shortages and planned or unplanned power outages caused by these shortages. Power outages may last beyond our backup and alternative power arrangements, which would harm our customers and our business. Any loss of services or equipment damage could adversely affect both our ability to generate revenues and our operating results, harm our reputation and potentially lead to customer disputes or litigation.

In addition, we may be subject to risks and unanticipated costs associated with obtaining power from various utility companies. Utilities that serve our data centers may be dependent on, and sensitive to price increases for, a particular type of fuel, such as coal, oil or natural gas. In addition, the price of these fuels and the electricity generated from them could increase as a result of proposed legislative measures related to climate change or efforts to regulate carbon emissions. Increases in the cost of power at any of our data centers would put those locations at a competitive disadvantage relative to data centers served by utilities that can provide less expensive power.

We have also entered into power purchase agreements with contract terms ranging from 10-15 years. These agreements require us to purchase renewable energy credits from producers at fixed prices over the terms of the contracts, subject to certain adjustments. In the event that the market price for energy decreases, we may be required to

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pay more under the power purchase agreements than we would otherwise if we were to purchase renewable energy credits on the open market, which could adversely affect our results of operations. Additionally, interruptions in the operations of one or more of the suppliers under these agreements, as a result of unpredictable weather, natural phenomena or otherwise, could negatively impact the quantity of renewable energy credits delivered to us.

We depend on third parties to provide network connectivity to the customers in our data centers and any delays or disruptions in connectivity may materially adversely affect our operating results and cash flow.

We are not a telecommunications carrier. Although our customers generally are responsible for providing their own network connectivity, we still depend upon the presence of telecommunications carriers’ fiber networks serving our data centers in order to attract and retain customers. We believe that the availability of carrier capacity will directly affect our ability to achieve our projected results. Any carrier may elect not to offer its services within our data centers. Any carrier that has decided to provide network connectivity to our data centers may not continue to do so for any period of time. Further, some carriers are experiencing business difficulties or have announced consolidations. As a result, some carriers may be forced to downsize or terminate connectivity within our data centers, which could have an adverse effect on the business of our customers and, in turn, our own operating results.

Our data centers may require construction and operation of a sophisticated redundant fiber network. The construction required to connect multiple carrier facilities to our data centers is complex and involves factors outside of our control, including regulatory requirements and the availability of construction resources. We have obtained the right to use network resources owned by other companies, including rights to use dark fiber, in order to attract telecommunications carriers and customers to our portfolio. If the establishment of highly diverse network connectivity to our data centers does not occur, is materially delayed or is discontinued, or is subject to failure, our operating results and cash flow may be materially adversely affected. Additionally, any hardware or fiber failures on this network may result in significant loss of connectivity to our data centers. This could negatively affect our ability to attract new customers or retain existing customers, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our international activities, including acquisition, ownership and operation of data centers located outside of the United States, subject us to risks different than those we face in the United States and we may not be able to effectively manage our international business.

Our portfolio included 152 data centers located outside of the United States as of December 31, 2020. We have acquired and developed, and may continue to acquire and develop, and operate data centers outside the United States.

The ownership and operation of data centers located outside of the United States subject us to risks from fluctuations in exchange rates between foreign currencies and the U.S. dollar. Changes in the relation of these currencies to the U.S. dollar will affect our revenues and operating margins, may materially adversely impact our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt obligations. We may attempt to mitigate some or all of the risk of currency fluctuation by financing our properties in the local currency denominations, although we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so or that this will be effective. We may also engage in direct hedging activities to mitigate the risks of exchange rate fluctuations in a manner consistent with our qualifications as a REIT, although we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so or that this will be effective.

Our foreign operations involve additional risks not generally associated with or different from operations in the United States, including:

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We also face risks with investing in unfamiliar metropolitan areas. We have acquired and may continue to acquire properties in international metropolitan areas that are new to us. When we acquire properties located in these metropolitan areas, we may face risks associated with a lack of market knowledge or understanding of the local economy and culture, forging new business relationships in the area and unfamiliarity with local government and permitting procedures. In addition, due diligence, transaction and structuring costs may be higher than those we may face in the United States. We work to mitigate such risks through extensive diligence and research and associations with experienced local partners; however, we cannot assure you that all such risks will be eliminated.

Our inability to overcome these risks could adversely affect our international activities, including our foreign operations and could harm our business and results of operations.

The United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union may have a negative effect on global economic conditions, financial markets and our business.

We are a global company with worldwide operations, including material business operations in Europe. Following a national referendum and enactment of legislation by the government of the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom formally withdrew from the European Union and ratified a trade and cooperation agreement governing its future relationship with the European Union. The agreement, which is being applied provisionally from January 1, 2021 until it is ratified by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, addresses trade, economic arrangements, law enforcement, judicial cooperation and a governance framework including procedures for dispute resolution, among other things. Because the agreement merely sets forth a framework in many respects and will require complex additional bilateral negotiations between the United Kingdom and the European Union as both parties continue to work on the rules for implementation, significant political and economic uncertainty remains about how the precise terms of the relationship between the parties will differ from the terms before withdrawal.

These developments, or the perception that any related developments could occur, have had and may continue to have a material adverse effect on global economic conditions and financial markets, and could significantly reduce global market liquidity and restrict the ability of key market participants to operate in certain financial markets. Asset valuations, currency exchange rates and credit ratings have been and may continue to be subject to increased market volatility. Lack of clarity about future United Kingdom laws and regulations as the United Kingdom determines which European Union laws to replace or replicate, including financial laws and regulations, tax and free trade agreements, tax and customs laws, intellectual property rights, environmental, health and safety laws and regulations, immigration laws, employment laws and transport laws could increase costs, disrupt supply chains, and depress economic activity and restrict our access to capital. Any of these factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations and reduce the price of our securities.

Our recent acquisitions may not achieve the intended benefits or may disrupt our plans and operations.

Acquisitions present many risks, and we may not realize the financial or strategic goals that were contemplated at the time of the transaction. We completed the Telx Acquisition in October 2015, the European Portfolio Acquisition in July 2016, the DFT Merger in September 2017 and the Interxion Combination in March 2020. Our ability to realize the anticipated benefits of these and other acquisitions depends, to a large extent, on our ability to integrate each of them with our business. The combination of two independent businesses can be a complex, costly and time-consuming process, which requires significant time and focus from our management team and may divert attention from the day-to-

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day operations of our business. There can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully integrate acquired properties and businesses with our business or otherwise realize the expected benefits of these acquisitions. In addition, even if our operations are integrated successfully with the operations of our acquisitions, we may not realize the full benefits of the acquisitions, including the synergies, operating efficiencies, or sales or growth opportunities that are expected. These benefits may not be achieved within the anticipated time frame or at all. All of these factors could decrease or delay any potential accretive effect of the acquisitions and negatively impact the price of our common stock.

In addition, the overall integration of the businesses may result in material unanticipated problems, expenses, liabilities, competitive responses and loss of customer relationships, among other potential adverse consequences. Actual integration costs may exceed those estimated and there may be further unanticipated costs and the assumption of known and unknown liabilities. While we have assumed that we will incur certain integration expenses, there are factors beyond our control that could affect the total amount or the timing of such expenses. Many of the expenses that will be incurred, by their nature, are difficult to estimate accurately. If we cannot integrate and operate acquired properties or businesses to meet our financial expectations, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations could be materially adversely affected.

The risks of combining businesses include, among others:

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Any one of these risks could result in increased costs, decreases in the amount of expected revenue and diversion of our management’s time and energy, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Additionally, our portfolio consisted of 291 data centers at December 31, 2020, including 43 data centers held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures. Several of our data centers, including the data centers which we have acquired in the past five years, have been under our management for a limited time. The data centers may have characteristics or deficiencies unknown to us that could affect their valuation or revenue potential. We cannot assure you that the operating performance of these data centers will not decline under our management.

We may be subject to unknown or contingent liabilities related to our recent acquisitions, for which we may have no or limited recourse against the sellers.

Our recent and future acquisitions may be subject to unknown or contingent liabilities for which we may have no or limited recourse against the sellers. Unknown or contingent liabilities might include liabilities for clean-up or remediation of environmental conditions, claims of customers, vendors or other persons dealing with the acquired entities or the former owners of acquired properties or businesses, tax liabilities, claims for indemnification by general partners, directors, officers and others indemnified by the former owners of acquired properties or businesses, and other liabilities whether incurred in the ordinary course of business or otherwise. In addition, the total amount of costs and expenses that we may incur with respect to liabilities associated with our acquisitions may exceed our expectations, which may adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Further, we have entered, and may in the future enter, into transactions with limited representations and warranties or with representations and warranties that do not survive the closing of such transactions, in which event we would have no or limited recourse against the sellers of such properties or businesses. While we usually require the sellers to

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indemnify us with respect to breaches of representations and warranties that survive, such indemnification is often limited and subject to various materiality thresholds, a significant deductible or an aggregate cap on losses. We may obtain insurance policies providing for coverage for breaches of certain representations and warranties in certain transactions, subject to certain exclusions and a deductible, however, there can be no assurance that we would be able to recover any amounts with respect to losses due to breaches of any such representations and warranties. As a result, there is no guarantee that we will recover any amounts with respect to losses due to breaches by the sellers of their representations and warranties. Finally, indemnification agreements between us and the sellers typically provide that the sellers will retain certain specified liabilities relating to the properties or businesses acquired by us. While the sellers are generally contractually obligated to pay all losses and other expenses relating to such retained liabilities, there can be no guarantee that such arrangements will not require us to incur losses or other expenses as well.

We may be unable to identify, including sourcing off-market deal flow, and complete acquisitions on favorable terms or at all.

A component of our growth strategy is to continue to acquire additional data centers, and we continually evaluate the market of available properties and businesses and may acquire additional properties or businesses when opportunities exist. To date, a substantial portion of our acquisitions were completed before they were widely marketed by real estate brokers, or “off-market.” Properties that are acquired off-market are typically more attractive to us as a purchaser because of the absence of competitive bidding, which could potentially lead to higher prices. We obtain access to off-market deal flow from numerous sources. If we cannot obtain off-market deal flow in the future, our ability to identify and acquire additional properties at attractive prices could be adversely affected.

Our ability to acquire properties or businesses on favorable terms may be subject to the following significant risks:

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If we cannot complete property or business acquisitions on favorable terms or at all, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations could be materially adversely affected.

Joint venture (JV) investments could be adversely affected by our lack of sole decision-making authority, our reliance on our JV partners’ financial condition and disputes between us and our JV partners.

We currently, and may in the future, co-invest with third parties through partnerships, joint ventures or other entities, acquiring non-controlling interests in or sharing responsibility for managing the affairs of a property or portfolio of properties, partnership, joint venture or other entity. In these events, we are not in a position to exercise sole decision-making authority regarding the properties, partnership, joint venture or other entity. Investments in partnerships, joint ventures, or other entities may, under certain circumstances, involve risks not present when a third party is not involved, including the possibility that partners might become bankrupt or fail to fund their share of required capital contributions. Partners may have economic, tax or other business interests or goals which are inconsistent with our business interests or goals, and may be in a position to take actions contrary to our policies or objectives. Our joint venture partners may take actions that are not within our control, which would require us to dispose of the joint venture asset or transfer it to a taxable REIT subsidiary in order for Digital Realty Trust, Inc. to maintain its status as a REIT. Such investments may also lead to impasses, for example, as to whether to sell a property, because neither we nor our partner would have full control over the partnership or joint venture. Disputes between us and our partners may result in litigation or arbitration that would increase our expenses and prevent our management from focusing their time and effort on our day-to-day business. Consequently, actions by or disputes with our partners may subject properties owned by the partnership or joint venture to additional risk. In addition, we may in certain circumstances be liable for the actions of our third-party partners. Each of these factors may result in returns on these investments being less than we expect or in losses and our

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financial and operating results may be adversely affected. In addition, we cannot assure you that we will be able to close joint ventures, on the anticipated schedule or at all. Failure to complete any such joint venture could have a negative impact on our business and the trading price of our common stock.

Brazilian political and economic conditions could adversely affect our investment in the Ascenty joint venture.

Ascenty’s portfolio of data centers is concentrated in Brazil. The Brazilian government frequently intervenes in the Brazilian economy and occasionally makes significant changes in policy and regulations. The Brazilian government’s actions designed to control inflation, stimulate growth and other policies and regulations have often involved, among other measures, increases in interest rates, changes in tax policies, price controls, currency devaluations, capital controls and limits on imported goods and services. We cannot control or predict changes in policy or regulations that the Brazilian government might adopt in the future. Our investment in the Ascenty joint venture may be adversely affected by the economic and political conditions in Brazil as well as changes in policy or regulations at the federal, state or municipal levels involving or affecting factors such as economic or social factors or political instability.

Any delays or unexpected costs in the development of our existing space and developable land and new properties acquired for development may delay and harm our growth prospects, future operating results and financial condition.

At December 31, 2020, we had approximately 5.4 million square feet of space under active development and approximately 2.3 million square feet of space held for future development. We have built and may continue to build out a large portion of this space on a speculative basis at significant cost. Our successful development of these projects is subject to many risks, including those associated with:

In addition, while we intend to develop data centers primarily in metropolitan areas we are familiar with, we may in the future develop data centers in new geographic regions where we expect the development to result in favorable risk-adjusted returns on our investment. We may not possess the same level of familiarity with the development of data centers in other metropolitan areas, which could adversely affect our ability to develop such data centers successfully or at all or to achieve expected performance.

Development activities, regardless of whether they are ultimately successful, also typically require a substantial portion of our management’s time and attention. This may distract our management from focusing on other operational activities of our business. If we are unable to complete development projects successfully, our business may be adversely affected.

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Discontinuation, reform or replacement of the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) and other benchmark rates, or uncertainty related to the potential for any of the foregoing, may adversely affect our business.

Certain of our variable rate debt, including our global revolving credit facility, uses LIBOR as a benchmark for establishing the interest rate. The U.K. Financial Conduct Authority announced in 2017 that it intends to phase out LIBOR by the end of 2021. In addition, other regulators have suggested reforming or replacing other benchmark rates. Discontinuation, reform or replacement of LIBOR or any other benchmark rates may have an unpredictable impact on contractual mechanics in the credit markets or cause disruption to the broader financial markets. Uncertainty as to the nature of such potential discontinuation, reform or replacement may negatively impact the cost of our variable rate debt.

We anticipate managing the transition to a preferred alternative rate using the language set out in our agreements and through potentially modifying our debt and derivative instruments. However, future market conditions may not allow immediate implementation of desired modifications and we may incur significant associated costs in doing so.

We have substantial debt and face risks associated with the use of debt to fund our business activities, including refinancing and interest rate risks.

Our total consolidated indebtedness at December 31, 2020 was approximately $13.3 billion, and we may incur significant additional debt to finance future acquisition, investment and development activities. As of December 31, 2020, we have a $2.35 billion global revolving credit facility. We have the ability from time to time to increase the size of the global revolving credit facility and the unsecured term loans (discussed below), in any combination, by up to $1.25 billion, subject to receipt of lender commitments and other conditions precedent. At December 31, 2020, approximately $1.8 billion was available under this facility, net of outstanding letters of credit. As of February 24, 2021, we had approximately $1.7 billion available under the global revolving credit facility, net of outstanding letters of credit.

Our substantial indebtedness currently requires us to dedicate a significant portion of our cash flow from operations to debt service payments, which reduces the availability of our cash flow to fund working capital, capital expenditures, expansion efforts, distributions and other general corporate purposes. Additionally, it could: make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our indebtedness; limit our ability in the future to undertake refinancings of our debt or obtain financing for expenditures, acquisitions, development or other general corporate purposes on terms and conditions acceptable to us, if at all; or affect adversely our ability to compete effectively or operate successfully under adverse economic conditions.

In addition, we may violate restrictive covenants or fail to maintain financial ratios specified in our loan documents, which would entitle the lenders to accelerate our debt obligations, and our secured lenders or mortgagees may foreclose on our properties or our interests in the entities that own the properties that secure their loans and receive an assignment of rents and leases. Our default under any one of our loans could result in a cross-default on other indebtedness. A foreclosure on one or more of our properties could adversely affect our access to capital, financial condition, results of operations, cash flow and cash available for distribution. Further, foreclosures could create taxable income without accompanying cash proceeds, a circumstance which could hinder Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s ability to meet the REIT distribution requirements imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, or the Code.

Additional risks related to our indebtedness include the following:

We may be unable to refinance our indebtedness at maturity or the refinancing terms may be less favorable than the terms of our original indebtedness. It is likely that we will need to refinance at least a portion of our outstanding debt as it matures. If we are unable to refinance or extend principal payments due at maturity or pay them with proceeds of other capital transactions, then our cash flow may not be sufficient in all years to repay all such maturing debt and to pay distributions. Further, if prevailing interest rates or other factors at the time of refinancing, such as the reluctance of lenders to make commercial real estate loans, result in higher interest rates upon refinancing, then the interest expense relating to that refinanced indebtedness would increase.

Fluctuations in interest rates could materially affect our financial results and may increase the risk our counterparty defaults on our interest rate hedges. Because a significant portion of our debt, including debt incurred under our global revolving credit facilities, bears interest at variable rates, increases in interest rates could materially increase our interest expense. If the United States Federal Reserve increases short-term interest rates, this would have a significant upward impact on shorter-term interest rates, including the interest rates that apply to our variable rate debt.

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Potential future increases in interest rates and credit spreads may increase our interest expense and therefore negatively affect our financial condition and results of operations, and reduce our access to capital markets. We have entered into interest rate swap agreements to fix a significant portion of our floating rate debt. Increased interest rates may increase the risk that the counterparties to our swap agreements will default on their obligations, which could further increase our exposure to interest rate fluctuations. Conversely, if interest rates are lower than our swapped fixed rates, we will be required to pay more for our debt than we would have had we not entered into the swap agreements.

Adverse changes in our Company’s credit ratings could negatively affect our financing activity. The credit ratings of our senior unsecured long-term debt and Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s preferred stock are based on our Company’s operating performance, liquidity and leverage ratios, overall financial position and other factors employed by the credit rating agencies in their rating analyses of our Company. Our Company’s credit ratings can affect the amount of capital we can access, as well as the terms and pricing of any debt we may incur. We cannot assure you that we will be able to maintain our current credit ratings, and in the event our current credit ratings are downgraded, we would likely incur higher borrowing costs and may encounter difficulty in obtaining additional financing. Also, a downgrade in our credit ratings may trigger additional payments or other negative consequences under our current and future credit facilities and debt instruments. For example, if the credit ratings of our senior unsecured long-term debt are downgraded to below investment grade levels, we may not be able to obtain or maintain extensions on certain of our existing debt. Adverse changes in our credit ratings could negatively impact our refinancing and other capital market activities, our ability to manage our debt maturities, our future growth, our financial condition, the market price of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stock, and our development and acquisition activity.

Our global revolving credit facilities, unsecured term loan facility and senior notes restrict our ability to engage in some business activities. Our global revolving credit facilities and unsecured term loan facility contain negative covenants and other financial and operating covenants that, among other things, restrict our ability to: incur additional indebtedness; make certain investments; merge with another company; and create, incur or assume liens; and require us to maintain financial coverage ratios, including with respect to unencumbered assets.

In addition, the global revolving credit facilities and the unsecured term loan facility restrict Digital Realty Trust, Inc. from making distributions to its stockholders, or redeeming or otherwise repurchasing shares of its capital stock, after the occurrence and during the continuance of an event of default, except in limited circumstances including as necessary to enable Digital Realty Trust, Inc. to maintain its qualification as a REIT and to avoid the payment of income or excise tax.

In addition, our unsecured senior notes are governed by indentures, which contain various restrictive covenants, including limitations on our ability to incur indebtedness and requirements to maintain a pool of unencumbered assets. These restrictions, and the restrictions in our global revolving credit facilities and unsecured term loan facility, could cause us to default on our senior notes, global revolving credit facilities or unsecured term loan facility, as applicable, or negatively affect our operations or our ability to pay dividends to Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders or distributions to Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders, which could have a material adverse effect on the market value of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock and preferred stock.

Failure to hedge effectively against interest rate changes may adversely affect results of operations. We seek to manage our exposure to interest rate volatility by using interest rate hedging arrangements, such as interest rate cap, forward or swap lock agreements. These agreements involve risks, such as the risk that counterparties may fail to honor their obligations under these arrangements, that these arrangements may not be effective in reducing our exposure to interest rate changes and that a court could rule that such an agreement is not legally enforceable. Our policy is to use these derivatives only to hedge interest rate risks related to our borrowings, not for speculative or trading purposes, and to enter into contracts only with major financial institutions based on their credit ratings and other factors. However, we may choose to change this policy in the future. Approximately 90% of our total indebtedness as of December 31, 2020 was subject to fixed interest rates or variable rates subject to interest rate swaps. We do not currently hedge our global revolving credit facilities and as our borrowings under our global revolving credit facilities increase, so will our percentage of indebtedness not subject to fixed rates and our exposure to interest rates increase. Hedging may reduce the overall returns on our investments. Failure to hedge effectively against interest rate changes may materially adversely affect our results of operations.

Our growth depends on external sources of capital which are outside of our control.

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In order for Digital Realty Trust, Inc. to maintain its qualification as a REIT, it is required under the Code, to annually distribute at least 90% of its REIT taxable income determined without regard to the dividends paid deduction and excluding any net capital gain. In addition, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will be subject to federal corporate income tax to the extent that it distributes less than 100% of its REIT taxable income, including any net capital gains. Digital Realty Trust, L.P. is required to make distributions to Digital Realty Trust, Inc. that will enable the latter to satisfy this distribution requirement and avoid income and excise tax liability. Because of these distribution requirements, we may not be able to fund future capital needs, including any necessary acquisition or development financing, from operating cash flow. Consequently, we may rely on third-party sources to fund our capital needs.

Our access to third-party sources of capital depends on a number of factors, including general market conditions, the market’s perception of our business prospects and growth potential, our current and expected future earnings, funds from operations, our cash flow and cash distributions, and the market price per share of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain equity or debt financing at all or on terms favorable or acceptable to us. Any additional debt we incur will increase our leverage. Further, equity markets have experienced high volatility recently and we cannot assure you that we will be able to raise capital through the sale of equity securities at all or on favorable terms. Sales of equity on unfavorable terms could result in substantial dilution to Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders. In addition, we may be forced to dispose of one or more of our properties, possibly on disadvantageous terms.

If we cannot obtain capital from third-party sources, we may not be able to acquire or develop data centers when strategic opportunities exist, satisfy our debt service obligations, pay cash dividends to Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders or make distributions to Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders.

Declining real estate valuations, impairment charges and illiquidity of real estate investments could adversely affect our earnings and financial condition.

We review each of our properties for indicators that its carrying amount may not be recoverable. Examples of such indicators may include a significant decrease in the market price, a significant adverse change in how the property is being used or expected to be used based on the underwriting at the time of acquisition, an accumulation of costs significantly in excess of the amount originally expected for the acquisition or development, a change in our intended holding period due to our intention to sell an asset, or a history of operating or cash flow losses. When such impairment indicators exist, we review an estimate of the future undiscounted net cash flows (excluding interest charges) expected to result from the real estate investment’s or group of properties that operate together as a group use and eventual disposition and compare it to the carrying value of the property or asset group. We consider factors such as future operating income, trends and prospects, as well as the effects of leasing demand, competition and other factors. If our future undiscounted net cash flow evaluation indicates that we are unable to recover the carrying value of a real estate investment, an impairment loss is recorded to the extent that the carrying value exceeds the estimated fair value of the property or asset group. These losses have a direct impact on our net income because recording an impairment loss results in an immediate negative adjustment to net income. The evaluation of anticipated cash flows is highly subjective and is based in part on assumptions regarding future occupancy, rental rates and capital requirements that could differ materially from actual results in future periods. A worsening real estate market may cause us to reevaluate the assumptions used in our impairment analysis. These impairment charges could be significant and could adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and cash available for distribution.

Because real estate investments are relatively illiquid and because there may be even fewer buyers for our specialized real estate, our ability to promptly sell properties in our portfolio in response to adverse changes in their performance may be limited, which may harm our financial condition. Further, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is subject to provisions in the Code that limit a REIT’s ability to dispose of properties, which limitations are not applicable to other types of real estate companies. See “Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure—Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s duty to its stockholders may conflict with the interests of Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders—Tax consequences upon sale or refinancing.” While Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has exclusive authority under Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s limited partnership agreement to determine whether, when, and on what terms to sell a property, such decisions may require the approval of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors. These limitations may affect our ability to sell properties.

This lack of liquidity and the Code restrictions may limit our ability to adjust our portfolio promptly in response to changes in economic or other conditions and, as a result, could adversely affect our financial condition, results of

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operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to access capital necessary to meet our debt payments and other obligations.

Our success depends on key personnel whose continued service is not guaranteed.

We depend on the efforts of key personnel of our Company, particularly A. William Stein, our Chief Executive Officer, Andrew P. Power, our Chief Financial Officer, Gregory S. Wright, our Chief Investment Officer, Chris Sharp, our Chief Technology Officer, and Erich J. Sanchack, our Executive Vice President, Operations. They are important to our success for many reasons, including that each has a national or regional reputation in our industry and the investment community that attracts investors and business and investment opportunities and assists us in negotiations with investors, lenders, existing and potential customers and industry personnel. If we lost their services, our business and investment opportunities and our relationships with lenders and other capital markets participants, existing and prospective customers and industry personnel could suffer. Many of our Company’s other senior employees also have strong technology, finance and real estate industry reputations. As a result, we have greater access to potential acquisitions, financing, leasing and other opportunities, and are better able to negotiate with customers. As the number of our competitors increases, it becomes more likely that a competitor would attempt to hire certain of these individuals away from our Company. The loss of any of these key personnel would result in the loss of these and other benefits and could materially and adversely affect our results of operations.

We also depend on the talents and efforts of highly skilled technical individuals. Our success depends on our continuing ability to identify, hire, develop, motivate, and retain highly skilled technical personnel for all areas of our organization. Competition in our industry for qualified technical employees is intense, and the availability of qualified technical personnel is not guaranteed.

We may have difficulty managing our growth.

We have significantly and rapidly expanded the size of our Company. Our growth may significantly strain our management, operational and financial resources and systems. In addition, as a reporting company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. The requirements of these rules and regulations subject us to certain accounting, legal and financial compliance costs and may strain our management and financial, legal and operational resources and systems. An inability to manage our growth effectively or the increased strain on our management of our resources and systems could result in deficiencies in our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting and could negatively impact financial condition, results of operations and our cash available for distribution.

Potential losses may not be covered by insurance.

We currently carry commercial general liability, property, business interruption, including loss of rental income, and other insurance policies to cover insurable risks to our Company. We select policy specifications, insured limits and deductibles which we believe to be appropriate and adequate given the relative risk of loss, the cost of the coverage and standard industry practices. Our insurance policies contain industry standard exclusions and we do not carry insurance for generally uninsurable perils, such as loss from war or nuclear reaction. A significant portion of our properties are located in seismically active zones such as California, which represents approximately 10% of our portfolio’s annualized rent as of December 31, 2020. One catastrophic event, for example, in California, could significantly impact multiple properties, the aggregate deductible amounts could be significant and the limits we purchase could prove to be insufficient, which could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations. Furthermore, a catastrophic regional event could also severely impact some of our insurers rendering them insolvent or unable to fully pay on claims despite their current financial strength. We may discontinue purchasing insurance against earthquake, flood or windstorm or other perils on some or all of our properties in the future if the cost of premiums for any of these policies exceeds, in our judgment, the value of the coverage relative to the risk of loss.

In addition, many of our buildings contain extensive and highly valuable technology-related improvements. Under the terms of our agreements with customers, customers are obligated to maintain adequate insurance coverage applicable to such improvements and under most circumstances use their insurance proceeds to restore such improvements after a casualty event. In the event of a casualty or other loss involving one of our buildings with extensive installed tenant improvements, our customers may have the right to terminate their leases if we do not rebuild the base building within prescribed times. In such cases, the proceeds from customers’ insurance will not be available to us to restore the

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improvements, and our insurance coverage may be insufficient to replicate the technology-related improvements made by such customers. Furthermore, the terms of our mortgage indebtedness at certain of our properties may require us to pay insurance proceeds over to our lenders under certain circumstances, rather than use the proceeds to repair the property. If we or one or more of our customers experience a loss which is uninsured or which exceeds policy limits, we could lose the capital invested in the damaged properties as well as the anticipated future cash flows from those properties. In addition, if the damaged properties are subject to recourse indebtedness, we would continue to be liable for the indebtedness, even if these properties were irreparably damaged.

We could incur significant costs related to environmental matters, including from government regulation, private litigation, and existing conditions at some of our properties.

Under various laws relating to the protection of the environment in the United States, as well as in many jurisdictions in Europe, Asia and South America, a current or previous owner or operator of real estate may be liable for contamination resulting from the presence or discharge of hazardous or toxic substances at a property, and may be required to investigate and clean up such contamination at or emanating from a property. Such laws often impose liability without regard to whether the owner or operator knew of, or was responsible for, the presence of the contaminants, and the liability may be joint and several. In the United States, the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, or CERCLA, established a regulatory and remedial program intended to provide for the investigation and clean-up of facilities where, or from which, a release of any hazardous substance into the environment has occurred or is threatened. CERCLA’s primary mechanism for remedying such problems is to impose strict joint and several liability for clean-up of facilities on current owners and operators of the site, former owners and operators of the site at the time of the disposal of the hazardous substances, any person who arranges for the transportation, disposal or treatment of the hazardous substances, and the transporters who select the disposal and treatment facilities, regardless of the care exercised by such persons. CERCLA also imposes liability for the cost of evaluating and remedying any damage to natural resources. The costs of CERCLA investigation and clean-up can be very substantial. CERCLA also authorizes the imposition of a lien in favor of the United States on all real property subject to, or affected by, a remedial action for all costs for which a party is liable. Subject to certain procedural restrictions, CERCLA gives a responsible party the right to bring a contribution action against other responsible parties for their allocable shares of investigative and remedial costs. Our ability to obtain reimbursement from others for their allocable shares of such costs would be limited by our ability to find other responsible parties and prove the extent of their responsibility, their financial resources, and other procedural requirements. Various state laws, as well as laws in Europe, Asia and South America, also impose in certain cases strict joint and several liability for investigation, clean-up and other damages associated with hazardous substance releases.

Previous owners used some of our properties for industrial and manufacturing purposes, and those properties may contain some level of environmental contamination. Independent environmental consultants have conducted Phase I or similar environmental site assessments on a majority of the properties in our portfolio. Site assessments are intended to discover and evaluate information regarding the environmental condition of the surveyed property and surrounding properties. These assessments do not generally include soil samplings, subsurface investigations or an asbestos survey and the assessments may fail to reveal all environmental conditions, liabilities or compliance concerns. In addition, material environmental conditions, liabilities or compliance concerns may have arisen after these reviews were completed or may arise in the future. We could be held jointly and severally liable under CERCLA and various state, local and national laws for the investigation and remediation of environmental contamination on our properties caused by previous owners or operators. Further, fuel storage tanks are present at most of our properties, and if releases were to occur, we may be liable for the costs of cleaning any resulting contamination. The presence of contamination or the failure to remediate contamination at our properties may expose us to third-party liability or materially adversely affect our ability to sell, lease or develop the real estate or to borrow using the real estate as collateral.

In addition, some of our customers, particularly those in the biotechnology and life sciences industry and those in the technology manufacturing industry, routinely handle hazardous substances and wastes as part of their operations at our properties. Environmental laws and regulations subject our customers, and potentially us, to liability resulting from these activities or from previous industrial or retail uses of those properties. We could be held jointly and severally liable under CERCLA and various state, local and national laws for the investigation and remediation of hazardous substances released by our customers on our properties. Environmental liabilities could also affect a customer’s ability to make rental payments to us. We cannot assure you that costs of investigation and remediation of environmental matters will

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not affect our ability to pay dividends to Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and distributions to Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders or that such costs or other remedial measures will not have a material adverse effect on our business, assets or results of operations.

Some of our properties may contain asbestos-containing building materials and lead-based paint. Environmental laws require that asbestos-containing building materials be properly managed and maintained, and may impose fines and penalties on building owners or operators for failure to comply with these requirements. These laws may also allow third parties to seek recovery from owners or operators for personal injury associated with exposure to asbestos-containing building materials.

Our properties and their uses often require permits and entitlements from various government agencies, including permits and entitlements related to zoning and land use. Certain permits from state or local environmental regulatory agencies, including regulators of air quality, are usually required to install and operate diesel-powered generators, which provide emergency back-up power at most of our facilities. These permits often set emissions limits for certain air pollutants, including oxides of nitrogen. In addition, various federal, state, and local environmental, health and safety requirements, such as fire requirements and treated and storm water discharge requirements, apply to some of our properties. Our ability to comply with, as well as changes to, applicable regulations, such as air quality regulations, or the permit requirements for equipment at our facilities, could hinder or prevent our construction or operation of data center facilities.

Also, drought conditions in certain markets have resulted in water usage restrictions and proposals to further restrict water usage.  Our data center facilities could face restrictions on water usage, water efficiency mandates, or higher water prices. Climate change could also limit water availability. In addition, sea level rise and more frequent and severe weather events caused or contributed to by climate change pose physical risks to our facilities. Additional risks related to our business and operations as a result of climate change include both physical and transition risks such as:

The environmental laws and regulations to which our properties are subject may change in the future, and new laws and regulations may be created. Future laws, ordinances or regulations may impose additional material environmental liability. Such laws include those directly regulating our climate change impacts and those which regulate the climate change impacts of companies with which we do business, such as utilities providing our facilities with electricity. See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Factors Which May Influence Future Results of Operations—Climate change legislation.” We do not know if or how the requirements will change, but changes may require that we make significant unanticipated expenditures, and such expenditures may materially adversely impact our financial condition, cash flow, results of operations, cash available for distributions, Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock’s per share trading price, our competitive position and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations.

Our properties may contain or develop harmful mold or suffer from other air quality issues, which could lead to liability for adverse health effects and costs to remedy the problem.

When excessive moisture accumulates in buildings or on building materials, mold may grow, particularly if the moisture problem remains undiscovered or is not addressed over a period of time. Some molds may produce airborne toxins or irritants. Indoor air quality issues can also stem from inadequate ventilation, chemical contamination from indoor or outdoor sources and other biological contaminants such as pollen, viruses and bacteria. Indoor exposure to airborne toxins or irritants above certain levels can be alleged to cause a variety of adverse health effects and symptoms, including allergic or other reactions. As a result, the presence of significant mold or other airborne contaminants, such as Legionella, at any of our properties could require us to undertake a costly remediation program to contain or remove the

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mold or other airborne contaminants from the affected property or increase indoor ventilation. In addition, the presence of significant mold or other airborne contaminants could expose us to liability from our customers, their employees, our employees and others if property damage or health concerns arise.

We may incur significant costs complying with applicable laws and governmental regulations, including the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Our business is subject to regulation under a wide variety of U.S. federal, state and local laws, regulations and policies, including those imposed by the SEC, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the NYSE, as well as applicable local, state, and national labor laws. Although we have policies and procedures designed to comply with applicable laws and regulations, failure to comply with the various laws and regulations may result in civil and criminal liability, fines and penalties and increased costs of compliance.

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, or the ADA, all public accommodations must meet federal requirements related to access and use by disabled persons. We have not conducted an audit or investigation of all of our properties to determine our compliance with the ADA or similar laws of other jurisdictions in which we operate. If one or more of the properties in our portfolio does not comply with the ADA or such other laws, then we would be required to incur additional costs to bring the property into compliance. Additional federal, state and local laws also may require modifications to our properties, or restrict our ability to renovate our properties. We cannot predict the ultimate cost of compliance with the ADA or other laws. If we incur substantial costs to comply with the ADA and any other similar legislation or are subject to awards of damages to private litigants, our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations could be materially adversely affected.

The properties in our portfolio are subject to various federal, state and local regulations, such as state and local fire and life safety regulations. If we fail to comply with these various regulations, we may have to pay fines or damage awards to private litigants. In addition, we do not know whether existing regulations will change or whether future regulations will require us to make significant unanticipated expenditures that will materially adversely impact our financial condition, results of operations, cash flow, cash available for distribution and ability to satisfy our debt service obligations.

Our business could be adversely impacted if there are deficiencies in our disclosure controls and procedures or internal control over financial reporting.

The design and effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting may not prevent all errors, misstatements or misrepresentations. While management will continue to review the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting, there can be no guarantee that our internal control over financial reporting will be effective in accomplishing all control objectives all of the time. Furthermore, our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting with respect to entities that we do not control or manage may be substantially more limited than those we maintain with respect to the subsidiaries that we have controlled or managed over the course of time. Deficiencies, including any material weakness, in our internal control over financial reporting which may occur in the future could result in misstatements of our results of operations, restatements of our financial statements, a decline in Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stock price, or otherwise materially adversely affect our business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition or liquidity.

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Risks Related to Our Organizational Structure

Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s duty to its stockholders may conflict with the interests of Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders.

Conflicts of interest may exist or could arise in the future as a result of the relationships between Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and its stockholders, on the one hand, and Digital Realty Trust, L.P. and its partners, on the other. Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s directors and officers have duties to Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and its stockholders under Maryland law in connection with their management of our Company. At the same time, Digital Realty Trust, Inc., as general partner, has fiduciary duties under Maryland law to Digital Realty Trust, L.P. and to the limited partners in connection with the management of our Operating Partnership. Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s duties as general partner to Digital Realty Trust, L.P. and its partners may come into conflict with the duties of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s directors and officers to

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Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and its stockholders. Under Maryland law, a general partner of a Maryland limited partnership owes its limited partners the duties of loyalty and care, which must be discharged consistently with the obligation of good faith and fair dealing, unless the partnership agreement provides otherwise. The partnership agreement of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. provides that for so long as Digital Realty Trust, Inc. owns a controlling interest in Digital Realty Trust, L.P., any conflict that cannot be resolved in a manner not adverse to either Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders or the limited partners will be resolved in favor of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders.

The provisions of Maryland law that allow the fiduciary duties of a general partner to be modified by a partnership agreement have not been tested in a court of law, and we have not obtained an opinion of counsel covering the provisions set forth in the partnership agreement that purport to waive or restrict Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s fiduciary duties.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders are also subject to the following additional conflict of interest:

Tax consequences upon sale or refinancing. Sales of properties and repayment of certain indebtedness will affect holders of common units in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. and Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders differently. Consequently, these holders of common units in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. may have different objectives regarding the appropriate pricing and timing of any such sale or repayment of debt. While Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has exclusive authority under the partnership agreement of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. to determine when to refinance or repay debt or whether, when, and on what terms to sell a property, such decisions may require the approval of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors and Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s ability to take such actions, to the extent that they may reduce the liabilities of Digital Realty Trust, L.P., may be limited pursuant to the tax protection agreement that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and Digital Realty Trust, L.P. entered into upon completion of the DFT Merger. Certain of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s directors and executive officers could exercise their influence in a manner inconsistent with the interests of some, or a majority, of Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders, including in a manner which could prevent completion of a sale of a property or the repayment of indebtedness.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s charter, Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s partnership agreement and Maryland law contain provisions that may delay, defer or prevent a change of control transaction.

These provisions include the following:

Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s charter and the articles supplementary governing its preferred stock contain 9.8% ownership limits. Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s charter, subject to certain exceptions, authorizes Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors to take such actions as are necessary and desirable to preserve Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s qualification as a REIT and to limit any person to actual or constructive ownership of no more than 9.8% (by value or by number of shares, whichever is more restrictive) of the outstanding shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock, 9.8% (by value or by number of shares, whichever is more restrictive) of the outstanding shares of any series of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s preferred stock and 9.8% of the value of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s outstanding capital stock. Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors, in its sole discretion, may exempt (prospectively or retroactively) a proposed transferee from the ownership limit. However, Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors may not grant an exemption from the ownership limit to any proposed transferee whose direct or indirect ownership of more than 9.8% of the outstanding shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock, more than 9.8% of the outstanding shares of any series of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s preferred stock or more than 9.8% of the value of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s outstanding capital stock could jeopardize Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s status as a REIT. These restrictions on transferability and ownership will not apply if Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors determines that it is no longer in Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s best interests to attempt to qualify, or to continue to qualify, as a REIT or that compliance is no longer required for REIT qualification. The ownership limit may delay, defer or prevent a transaction or a change of control that might be in the best interest of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders.

Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s partnership agreement contains provisions that may delay, defer or prevent a change of control transaction. Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s partnership agreement provides that Digital Realty Trust, Inc. may not engage in any merger, consolidation or other combination with or into another person, any sale of all or substantially all of its assets or any reclassification, recapitalization or change of its outstanding equity interests unless the transaction

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is approved by the holders of common units and long-term incentive units representing at least 35% of the aggregate percentage interests of all holders of common units and long-term incentive units and either:

These provisions may discourage others from trying to acquire control of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and may delay, defer or prevent a change of control transaction that might be beneficial to Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders.

The change of control conversion features of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s preferred stock may make it more difficult for a party to take over our Company or discourage a party from taking over our Company. Upon the occurrence of specified change of control transactions, holders of our series C preferred stock, series J preferred stock, series K preferred stock and series L preferred stock will have the right (unless, prior to the change of control conversion date, we have provided or provide notice of our election to redeem such preferred stock) to convert some or all of their series C preferred stock, series J preferred stock, series K preferred stock or series L preferred stock, as applicable, into shares of our common stock (or equivalent value of alternative consideration), subject to caps set forth in the articles supplementary governing the applicable series of preferred stock. The change of control conversion features of the series C preferred stock, series J preferred stock, series K preferred stock and series L preferred stock may have the effect of discouraging a third party from making an acquisition proposal for our Company or of delaying, deferring or preventing certain change of control transactions of our Company under circumstances that otherwise could provide the holders of

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our common stock, series C preferred stock, series J preferred stock, series K preferred stock and series L preferred stock with the opportunity to realize a premium over the then-current market price or that stockholders may otherwise believe is in their best interests.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. could increase or decrease the number of authorized shares of stock and issue stock without stockholder approval. Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s charter authorizes Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors, without stockholder approval, to amend the charter from time to time to increase or decrease the aggregate number of authorized shares of stock or the number of authorized shares of stock of any class or series, to issue authorized but unissued shares of the Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock or preferred stock and, subject to the voting rights of holders of preferred stock, to classify or reclassify any unissued shares of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock or preferred stock into other classes of series of stock and to set the preferences, rights and other terms of such classified or reclassified shares. Although Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors has no such intention at the present time, it could establish an additional class or series of preferred stock that could, depending on the terms of such class or series, delay, defer or prevent a transaction or a change of control that might be in the best interest of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders.

Certain provisions of Maryland law could inhibit changes in control. Certain provisions of the Maryland General Corporation Law, or MGCL, may have the effect of impeding a third party from making a proposal to acquire Digital Realty Trust, Inc. or of impeding a change of control under circumstances that otherwise could be in the best interests of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders, including:

●“business combination” provisions that, subject to limitations, prohibit certain business combinations between Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and an “interested stockholder” (defined generally as any person who beneficially owns, directly or indirectly, 10% or more of the voting power of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s outstanding shares of voting stock or an affiliate or associate of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. who, at any time within the two-year period prior to the date in question, was the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of 10% or more of the voting power of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s then outstanding shares of stock) or an affiliate thereof for five years after the most recent date on which the stockholder becomes an interested stockholder, and thereafter impose special appraisal rights and supermajority voting requirements on these combinations; and

●“control share” provisions that provide that “control shares” of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (defined as shares which, when aggregated with other shares controlled by the stockholder (except solely by virtue of a revocable proxy), entitle the stockholder to exercise one of three increasing ranges of voting power in electing directors) acquired in a “control share acquisition” (defined as the direct or indirect acquisition of ownership or control of issued and outstanding “control shares”) have no voting rights except to the extent approved by Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders by the affirmative vote of at least two-thirds of all the votes entitled to be cast on the matter, excluding all interested shares.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has opted out of these provisions of the MGCL, in the case of the business combination provisions of the MGCL by resolution of its Board of Directors, and in the case of the control share provisions of the MGCL pursuant to a provision in its bylaws. However, Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors may by resolution elect to opt in to the business combination provisions of the MGCL and Digital Realty Trust, Inc. may, by amendment to its bylaws, opt in to the control share provisions of the MGCL in the future.

The provisions of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s charter governing removal of directors and the advance notice provisions of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s bylaws could delay, defer or prevent a change of control or other transaction that might be in the best interests of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders. Likewise, if Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s board of directors were to opt in to the business combination provisions of the MGCL or the provisions of Title 3, Subtitle 8 of the MGCL not currently applicable to Digital Realty Trust, Inc., or if the provision in Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s bylaws opting out of the control share acquisition provisions of the MGCL were rescinded, these provisions of the MGCL could have similar anti-takeover effects.

The conversion rights of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s preferred stock may be detrimental to holders of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s common stock.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. currently has 8,050,000 shares of 6.625% series C cumulative redeemable perpetual preferred stock outstanding, 8,000,000 shares of 5.250% series J cumulative redeemable preferred stock outstanding,

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8,400,000 shares of 5.850% series K cumulative redeemable preferred stock outstanding and 13,800,000 shares of 5.200% series L cumulative redeemable preferred stock outstanding which may be converted into Digital Realty Trust, Inc. common stock upon the occurrence of limited specified change in control transactions. The conversion of the series C preferred stock, series J preferred stock, series K preferred stock or series L preferred stock for Digital Realty Trust, Inc. common stock would dilute stockholder ownership in Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and unitholder ownership in Digital Realty Trust, L.P., and could adversely affect the market price of Digital Realty Trust, Inc. common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s rights and the rights of its stockholders to take action against its directors and officers are limited.

Maryland law provides that Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s directors have no liability in their capacities as directors if they perform their duties in good faith, in a manner they reasonably believe to be in the Company’s best interests and with the care that an ordinarily prudent person in a like position would use under similar circumstances. As permitted by the MGCL, Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s charter limits the liability of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s directors and officers to the Company and its stockholders for money damages, except for liability resulting from:

●actual receipt of an improper benefit or profit in money, property or services; or

●a final judgment based upon a finding of active and deliberate dishonesty by the director or officer that was material to the cause of action adjudicated.

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In addition, Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s charter authorizes Digital Realty Trust, Inc. to obligate itself, and Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s bylaws require it, to indemnify Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s directors and officers for actions taken by them in those capacities and to pay or reimburse their reasonable expenses in advance of final disposition of a proceeding to the maximum extent permitted by Maryland law. Further, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has entered into indemnification agreements with its directors and officers. As a result, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and its stockholders may have more limited rights against its directors and officers than might otherwise exist under common law. Accordingly, in the event that actions taken in good faith by any of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s directors or officers impede the performance of the Company, the Company’s stockholders’ ability to recover damages from that director or officer will be limited.

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Risks Related to Taxes and Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Status as a REIT

Failure to qualify as a REIT would have significant adverse consequences to Digital Realty Trust, Inc. and its stockholders and to Digital Realty Trust, L.P. and its unitholders.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has operated and intends to continue operating in a manner that it believes will allow it to qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes under the Code. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has not requested and does not plan to request a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, that it qualifies as a REIT. Qualification as a REIT involves the application of highly technical and complex Code provisions for which there are only limited judicial and administrative interpretations. The complexity of these provisions and of the applicable Treasury regulations promulgated under the Code, or Treasury Regulations, is greater in the case of a REIT that, like Digital Realty Trust, Inc., holds its assets through a partnership. The determination of various factual matters and circumstances not entirely within Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s control may affect its ability to qualify as a REIT. In order to qualify as a REIT, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. must satisfy a number of requirements, including requirements regarding the ownership of its stock, requirements regarding the composition of its assets and requirements regarding the source of its income. Also, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. must make distributions to stockholders aggregating annually at least 90% of its REIT taxable income, excluding any net capital gains.

If Digital Realty Trust, Inc. loses its REIT status, it will face serious tax consequences that would substantially reduce its cash available for distribution, including cash available to pay dividends to its stockholders, for each of the years involved because:

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●Digital Realty Trust, Inc. would not be allowed a deduction for dividends paid to stockholders in computing its taxable income and would be subject to federal corporate income tax on its taxable income;

●Digital Realty Trust, Inc. also could be subject to the federal alternative minimum tax for taxable years prior to 2018 and possibly increased state and local taxes; and

●unless Digital Realty Trust, Inc. is entitled to relief under applicable statutory provisions, it could not elect to be taxed as a REIT for four taxable years following the year during which it was disqualified.

In addition, if Digital Realty Trust, Inc. fails to qualify as a REIT, it will not be required to make distributions to common stockholders, and accordingly, distributions Digital Realty Trust, L.P. makes to its unitholders could be similarly reduced. As a result of all these factors, Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s failure to qualify as a REIT could impair our ability to expand our business and raise capital, and could materially adversely affect the value of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stock and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s units.

In certain circumstances, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. may be subject to federal and state taxes as a REIT, which would reduce its cash available for distribution to its stockholders.

Even if Digital Realty Trust, Inc. qualifies as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, it may be subject to some federal, state and local taxes on its income or property and, in certain cases, a 100% penalty tax, in the event it sells property as a dealer. In addition, our domestic corporate subsidiary, Digital Services, Inc., which is a taxable REIT subsidiary of Digital Realty Trust, Inc., could be subject to federal, state and local taxes, and our foreign properties and companies are subject to tax in the jurisdictions in which they operate and are located. A domestic taxable REIT subsidiary is subject to U.S. federal income tax as a regular C corporation. In addition, a 100% excise tax will be imposed on certain transactions between a taxable REIT subsidiary and its parent REIT that are not conducted on an arm’s length basis. Any federal, state or foreign taxes Digital Realty Trust, Inc. pays will reduce its cash available for distribution to stockholders.

To maintain Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s REIT status, we may be forced to borrow funds during unfavorable market conditions.

To qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. generally must distribute to its stockholders at least 90% of its REIT taxable income each year, excluding capital gains, and Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will be subject to regular corporate income taxes to the extent that it distributes less than 100% of its REIT taxable income each year. In addition, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. will be subject to a 4% nondeductible excise tax on the amount, if any, by which distributions paid by Digital Realty Trust, Inc. in any calendar year are less than the sum of 85% of its ordinary income, 95% of its capital gain net income and 100% of its undistributed income from prior years. While historically Digital Realty Trust, Inc. has satisfied these distribution requirements by making cash distributions to its stockholders, a REIT is permitted to satisfy these requirements by making distributions of cash or other property. We may need to borrow funds for Digital Realty Trust, Inc. to meet the REIT distribution requirements even if the then prevailing market conditions are not favorable for these borrowings. These borrowing needs could result from differences in timing between the actual receipt of cash and inclusion of income for federal income tax purposes, or the effect of non-deductible capital expenditures, the creation of reserves or required debt or amortization payments.

Dividends payable by REITs do not qualify for the reduced tax rates available for some dividends.

The maximum tax rate applicable to “qualified dividend income” payable to U.S. stockholders that are individuals, trusts and estates is 20%. Dividends payable by REITs, however, generally are not eligible for these reduced rates. U.S. stockholders that are individuals, trusts and estates generally may deduct up to 20% of the ordinary dividends (i.e., dividends not designated as capital gain dividends or qualified dividend income) received from a REIT for taxable years before January 1, 2026. Although this deduction reduces the effective tax rate applicable to certain dividends paid by REITs (generally to 29.6% assuming the shareholder is subject to the 37% maximum rate), such tax rate is still higher than the tax rate applicable to corporate dividends that constitute qualified dividend income. Accordingly, investors who are individuals, trusts and estates may perceive investments in REITs to be relatively less attractive than investments in the stocks of non-REIT corporations that pay dividends treated as qualified dividend income, which could materially and adversely affect the value of the shares of REITs, including the per share trading price of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s capital stock.

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The tax imposed on REITs engaging in “prohibited transactions” may limit our ability to engage in transactions which would be treated as sales for federal income tax purposes.

A REIT’s net income from prohibited transactions is subject to a 100% penalty tax. In general, prohibited transactions are sales or other dispositions of property, other than foreclosure property, held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of business. Although we do not intend to hold any properties that would be characterized as held for sale to customers in the ordinary course of our business, unless a sale or disposition qualifies under certain statutory safe harbors, such characterization is a factual determination and no guarantee can be given that the IRS would agree with our characterization of our properties or that we will always be able to make use of the available safe harbors.

Complying with REIT requirements may cause us to forgo otherwise attractive opportunities or liquidate otherwise attractive investments.

To qualify as a REIT for federal income tax purposes, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. must continually satisfy tests concerning, among other things, its sources of income, the nature and diversification of its assets (including its proportionate share of Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s assets), the amounts it distributes to its stockholders and the ownership of its capital stock. If Digital Realty Trust, Inc. were to fail to comply with one or more of the asset tests at the end of any calendar quarter, it would need to correct the failure within 30 days after the end of the calendar quarter or qualify for certain statutory relief provisions to avoid losing its REIT qualification and suffering adverse tax consequences. In order to meet these tests, we may be required to forgo investments we might otherwise make or to liquidate otherwise attractive investments. Thus, compliance with the REIT requirements may hinder our performance and reduce amounts available for distribution to Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders.

The power of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s Board of Directors to revoke Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s REIT election without stockholder approval may cause adverse consequences to Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders.

Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s charter provides that its board of directors may revoke or otherwise terminate its REIT election, without the approval of its stockholders, if the board determines that it is no longer in Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s best interests to continue to qualify as a REIT. If Digital Realty Trust, Inc. ceases to qualify as a REIT, it would become subject to U.S. federal corporate income tax on its taxable income and it would no longer be required to distribute most of its taxable income to its stockholders and, accordingly, distributions Digital Realty Trust, L.P. makes to its unitholders could be similarly reduced.

If Digital Realty Trust L.P. were to fail to qualify as a partnership for federal income tax purposes, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. would fail to qualify as a REIT and suffer other adverse consequences.

We believe that Digital Realty Trust, L.P. has been organized and operated in a manner that will allow it to be treated as a partnership, and not an association or publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation, for federal income tax purposes. As a partnership, Digital Realty Trust, L.P. is not subject to federal income tax on its income. Instead, each of its partners, including Digital Realty Trust, Inc., is allocated, and may be required to pay tax with respect to, that partner’s share of Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s income. No assurance can be provided, however, that the IRS will not challenge Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s status as a partnership for federal income tax purposes or that a court would not sustain such a challenge. If the IRS were successful in treating Digital Realty Trust, L.P. as an association or publicly traded partnership taxable as a corporation for federal income tax purposes, Digital Realty Trust, Inc. would fail to meet the gross income tests and certain of the asset tests applicable to REITs and, accordingly, would cease to qualify as a REIT. Such REIT qualification failure could impair our ability to expand our business and raise capital, and would materially adversely affect the value of Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stock and Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s units. Also, the failure of Digital Realty Trust, L.P. to qualify as a partnership would cause it to become subject to federal corporate income tax, which would reduce significantly the amount of its cash available for debt service and for distribution to its partners, including Digital Realty Trust, Inc.

Our tax protection agreement may require the Operating Partnership to maintain certain debt levels that otherwise would not be required to operate our business.

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In connection with the DFT Merger, we entered into a tax protection agreement with a number of limited partners of DuPont Fabros Technology, L.P., or the Protected Partners, all of whom became limited partners of the Operating Partnership. Pursuant to this tax protection agreement, the Protected Partners entered into a guarantee of certain debt of a subsidiary of the Operating Partnership. The Operating Partnership is required to offer the Protected Partners a new guarantee opportunity in the event any guaranteed debt is repaid prior to March 1, 2023. If the Operating Partnership fails to offer the guarantee opportunity or to allocate guaranteed debt to a Protected Partner as required under the tax protection agreement, the Operating Partnership generally would be required to indemnify each Protected Partner for the tax liability resulting from such failure, as determined under the tax protection agreement. These obligations may require the Operating Partnership to maintain more or different indebtedness than we would otherwise require for our business.

Changes in U.S. or foreign tax laws and regulations, including changes to tax rates, legislation and other actions may adversely affect our results of operations, our stockholders, Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders and us.

We are headquartered in the United States with subsidiaries and operations globally and are subject to income taxes in these jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining our provision for income taxes. Although we believe that we have adequately assessed and accounted for our potential tax liabilities, and that our tax estimates are reasonable, there can be no assurance that additional taxes will not be due upon audit of our tax returns or as a result of changes to applicable tax laws. The governments of many of the countries in which we operate may enact changes to the tax laws of such countries, including changes to the corporate recognition and taxation of worldwide income. The nature and timing of any changes to each jurisdiction’s tax laws and the impact on our future tax liabilities cannot be predicted with any accuracy but could materially and adversely impact our results of operations and cash flows.

Additionally, each of our properties is subject to real property and personal property taxes. These taxes may increase as tax rates change and as the properties are assessed or reassessed by taxing authorities. Any increase in property taxes on our properties could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and results of operations.

Further, the rules dealing with federal income taxation are constantly under review by persons involved in the legislative process and by the IRS and the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Changes to the tax laws, with or without retroactive application, could materially and adversely affect Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s stockholders, Digital Realty Trust, L.P.’s unitholders and us. We cannot predict how changes in the tax laws might affect our investors and us. New legislation, Treasury Regulations, administrative interpretations or court decisions could significantly and negatively affect Digital Realty Trust, Inc.’s ability to qualify as a REIT, the federal income tax consequences of such qualification, or the federal income tax consequences of an investment in us. Moreover, the law relating to the tax treatment of other entities, or an investment in other entities, could change, making an investment in such other entities more attractive relative to an investment in a REIT.

Tax liabilities and attributes inherited in connection with acquisitions may adversely impact our business.

From time to time we may acquire other corporations or entities and, in connection with such acquisitions, we may succeed to the historic tax attributes and liabilities of such entities. For example, if we acquire a C corporation and subsequently dispose of its assets within five years of the acquisition, we could be required to pay tax on any built-in gain attributable to such assets determined as of the date on which we acquired the assets. In addition, in order to qualify as a REIT, at the end of any taxable year, we must not have any earnings and profits accumulated in a non-REIT year. As a result, if we acquire a C corporation, we must distribute the corporation’s earnings and profits accumulated prior to the acquisition before the end of the taxable year in which we acquire the corporation. We also could be required to pay the acquired entity’s unpaid taxes even though such liabilities arose prior to the time we acquired the entity.

Forward-Looking Statements

We make statements in this report that are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. In particular, statements pertaining to our capital resources, portfolio performance, our ability to lease vacant space and space under development, leverage policy and acquisition and capital expenditure plans, as well as our discussion of “Factors Which May Influence Future Results of Operations,” contain forward-looking statements. Likewise, all of our statements regarding anticipated market conditions, demographics and results of operations are forward-looking statements. You can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes,”

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“expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “seeks,” “approximately,” “intends,” “plans,” “pro forma,” “estimates” or “anticipates” or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. You can also identify forward-looking statements by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions.

Forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and you should not rely on them as predictions of future events. Forward-looking statements depend on assumptions, data or methods which may be incorrect or imprecise and we may not be able to realize them. We do not guarantee that the transactions and events described will happen as described or that they will happen at all. The following factors, among others, could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those set forth or contemplated in the forward-looking statements:

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The risks included here are not exhaustive, and additional factors could adversely affect our business and financial performance, including factors and risks included in other sections of this report, including under Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risk factors emerge from time to time and it is not possible for management to identify all such risk factors, nor can we assess the impact of all such risk factors on the business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. While forward-looking statements reflect our good faith beliefs, they are not guaranties of future performance. We disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, new information, data or methods, future events or other changes.

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ITEM 1B.         UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

None.

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ITEM 2.           PROPERTIES

General

In addition to the information in this Item 2, certain information regarding our portfolio is contained in Schedule III (Financial Statement Schedule) under Part IV, Item 15(a) (2) and which is included in Part II, Item 8.

Our Portfolio

As of December 31, 2020, our portfolio consisted of 291 data centers, including 43 data centers held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures, and contain a total of approximately 43.6 million rentable square feet, including 5.4 million square feet of space under active development and 2.3 million square feet of space held for development. The following table presents an overview of our portfolio of properties, including the 43 data centers held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures and developable land, based on information as of December 31, 2020 (dollar amounts in thousands). All data centers are held in fee simple except as otherwise indicated. Please refer to Note 8 in the Notes to

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the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a description of all applicable encumbrances as of December 31, 2020.