The Top 10 Data Centre Real Estate Companies (2024)

The world runs on data. The combined effects of 5G adoption, expansion of the Internet of Things, and a global pandemic have seen global data traffic soar over the past 12 months, and the demand for cloud services has responded accordingly. The data centre industry has been one of the lucky few to benefit from the COVID-19 crisis, elevating an already stratospheric growth trajectory. In addition to the managed services, software, construction and hardware infrastructure industries associated with the data centre market, real estate (one of the largest expenses associated with a data centre, along with cooling and power) has reaped the rewards.

This month, Data Centre Magazine is bringing you our list featuring the Top 10 Data Centre Real Estate Companies.

10: Iron Mountain...

Go back a few years and you wouldn’t have seen Iron Mountain on any lists demarking the most significant players in the data centre space. The Boston-based firm started out as a secure storage provider, handling sensitive documents, pieces of art and medical supplies for governments and the Fortune 500. It still uses its international network of secure sites for that purpose, but in the last few years has cleverly identified data centres as a complementary area of investment. The company has quickly grown its portfolio to include 15 data centres, mostly located in the US, with three in Europe and one in Singapore. With secure storage and data centre facilities built into decommissioned mine shafts and nuclear bunkers, Iron Mountain is certainly one of the most interesting players in the data centre real estate space. Because it doesn’t generate a significant enough portion of its profits from data centres alone, it isn’t technically a data centre real estate investment trust (REIT), but it fills a very similar role in the market.

Market Cap: $7.6bn

Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts

CEO:

09: QTS Realty Trust...

With an extensive portfolio of 26 data centre facilities spanning more than 7mn square feet of owned data centre space across North America and Europe, QTS Realty Trust is one of the industry’s leading providers of colocation and enterprise data centre solutions. As of Q3 2020, QTS Realty Trust controlled $3.68bn in assets under management and provides dedicated connectivity and infrastructure services to more than 1,200 customers. QTS Realty Trust is the smallest of the US’ five major REITs

Market Cap: $3.8bn

Headquarters: Overland Park, Kansas

CEO:

08: Interxion Holding...

Acquired in October of 2019 as part of an $8.4bn transaction, Interxion is the European arm of Digital Realty. The company operates over 50 data centre facilities throughout 11 European countries and its clients have access to Digital Realty’s portfolio of more than 280 data centres worldwide. The company uses its large scale portfolio of multiple sites to provide carrier-neutral colocation services, connecting its customers to more than 400 individual carriers and ISPs, as well as 18 internet exchanges throughout Europe.

Market Cap: NA

Headquarters: Amsterdam, Netherlands

CEO:

07: CoreSite Realty...

One of a small cadre of real estate investment trusts directly focused on handling data centre infrastructure investments, CoreSite was founded in 2002 and is headquartered in Denver Colorado. The company invests, owns and operates 24 data centres across eight markets in the United States, including Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Silicon Valley and global data centre hotspot Northern Virginia. Combined, CoreSite’s data centre portfolio represents more than 4.6mn net rentable square feet. Majority owner, the Carlyle Group, announced further sold down its majority holdings in CoreSite in August of 2020.

Market Cap: $5.36bn

Headquarters: Denver, Colorado

CEO:

06: Brookfield...

One of the world’s largest asset management firms, Brookfield has been a dominant player in the digital infrastructure space for over a decade. The company’s CEO Sam Pollock said back in 2017 that "data is the fastest-growing commodity in the world, with global usage growing exponentially, which requires massive investment in networks.” Brookfield has spent the years since investing heavily in the data centre space, notably securing the $1.1bn purchase of AT&T’s colocation business through its subsidiary Evoque. Across its infrastructure portfolio, which also includes investments in transport, energy and utilities, Brookfield commands more than $91bn in assets. The company has investments in 52 data centres, as well as 20,000km of supporting fibre infrastructure.

Market Cap: $60.8bn

Headquarters: Toronto, Canada

CEO:

05: GDS Holdings...

As the biggest third-party data centre brand in the Chinese market, GDS Holdings has had a fantastic 2020. The country’s data centre sector is projected to grow at a CAGR of 26% over the next four years. GDS Holdings, which operates a large portfolio of Tier III+ data centres in China’s busiest markets, is poised to capitalise on the trend. At the close of Q3 2020, GDS Holdings’ data centre assets under management covered 279,618 sqm, compared with 198,097 sqm at the end of the third quarter of 2019. Over the course of its history, the company has received backing and investment from some of the leading players in the infrastructure investment space, including SoftBank, CyrusOne, STT and Ping An Insurance.

Market Cap: $33.47bn

Headquarters: Shanghai, China

CEO:

04: Switch...

Speaking of interesting real estate projects, Switch is a breed unto itself. While in many ways the Las Vegas-based firm rivals some of the biggest data centre players in the industry, Switch’s legendary tech industry CEO Rob Roy has taken the company in a very different direction. Concentrated at four megalithic campuses in the four corners of the US, Switch has built a quartet of massive, hyper-modern data centre campuses that stand alone in terms of both size and technological sophistication. Switch has even gone so far as to establish its own quality certification, Tier V Platinum, which requires its data centres to be tested on than the industry-leading Tier IV Gold certification from the Uptime institute.

Market Cap: $3.79bn

Headquarters: Las Vegas, Nevada

CEO:

03: CyrusOne...

Founded in 2001, CyrusOne is one of the US’ leading real estate investment trusts focused on the enterprise data centre industry. The company operates a network of more than 50 data centres across North America, Europe, Latin America and APAC. CyrusOne’s operating strategy emphasises its agile and rapid supply chain, which allows it to move from the design process to spinning up new data centres in shorter amounts of time, a strategy which has conspired to make it the third-largest data centre provider in the US market. Among the 200 Fortune 1000 companies that comprise the majority of CyrusOne's client base, Microsoft represents the company’s largest customer, accounting for more than 21% of its gross revenues in 2019.

Market Cap: $8.46bn

Headquarters: Dallas, Texas

CEO:

02: Digital Realty Trust...

is one of the world’s leading data centre brands . Structured as a real estate investment trust, the San Francisco-based company operates a network of more than 280 data centres in 47 metro areas across 22 countries through its offering, which launched in late 2019. In March of 2020 Digital Realty completed an of European data centre operator Interxion, making it the region’s largest colocation company with a combined European capacity of more than 440MW. Digital Realty’s business is focused on providing facilities leasing services to hyperscale clients, but the company has also to directly compete with Equinix.

Market Cap: $37.85bn

Headquarters: San Francisco, California

CEO:

01: Equinix...

With more than 210 data centres in 25 countries on five continents, the brand has become synonymous with colocation and cloud based data centre services over the past two decades, representing one of the largest and fastest-growing players in the data centre real estate sector. Headquartered in Redwood City, California Equinix restructured itself as an REIT back in January 2015. Since then, the company has grown dramatically, both through acquisitions and construction projects. , Equinix completed a $780mn acquisition of 13 Canadian data centres from Bell, bringing its total footprint in the country to 15 facilities. Later in 2020, the company opened a string of new international business exchanges (IBX), including its first IBX in the Sultanate of Oman, its fifth facility in Singapore, and two new facilities in the Northern Virginia/Washington DC area, which together represented an investment of more than $200mn in real estate and construction.

Market Cap: $63.49bn

Headquarters: Redwood City, California

CEO:

The Top 10 Data Centre Real Estate Companies (2024)

FAQs

Which data center REIT is best? ›

3 Data Center REITs With The Highest Upside According To Analysts
  • Don't miss: Best REITs to Buy in October 2022.
  • DigitalBridge Group Inc. ...
  • Digital Realty Trust Inc. ...
  • Check out: This High-Yield Real Estate Fund Is Targeting A 12%-18% Annualized Return.
  • Equinix Inc.
5 Oct 2022

What are data Centres real estate? ›

Data centres are special-purpose properties with highly specific building requirements, and the location criteria and market drivers also deviate significantly from those of established real estate such as offices, retail premises and logistics facilities.

What is a data center company? ›

Data center companies can also be referred to as colocation companies, and these companies build and operate data centers, providing a highly secure space with redundant power, cooling and network infrastructure for those who find it more affordable and/or more reliable than operating their own data centers.

Are data center a good investment? ›

Data Centers as an Investment Opportunity

A direct acquisition or development investment into a data center asset let to a hyperscaler generates high and stable rental income over a considerable term.

What is the biggest REIT in the world? ›

Largest Real-Estate-Investment-Trusts by market cap
#NameM. Cap
1Prologis 1PLD$95.43 B
2American Tower 2AMT$86.31 B
3Crown Castle 3CCI$53.02 B
4Public Storage 4PSA$51.28 B
56 more rows

Which is the best data company? ›

Top Big Data Companies to Look For
  • EMC.
  • Amazon.
  • Microsoft.
  • Google.
  • VMware.
  • Splunk.
  • Alteryx.
  • Cogito.
29 Sept 2022

What 2/3 companies have large data centers? ›

Some of the most reliable colocation data center companies are QTS Realty Trust Inc (NYSE: QTS), Digital Realty (NYSE: DLR), and Equinix (NASDAQ: EQIX).

Which company is best for big data? ›

Apple, Saudi Aramco, and Microsoft top the biggest companies in the world.

What are the four main types of data centers? ›

Data center needs vary depending on their structure, physical limitations, density requirements and more. Here are four common data center types including onsite, colocation facilities, hyperscale, and edge data centers, as well as their use cases and industry trends.

How does a data center make money? ›

How do data centers make money? Data center operators make money by leasing or licensing power and space.

How is data used in real estate? ›

Real estate professionals can use data to more accurately determine the age and condition of a building and get reliable information on the types of renovations and redesigns previously made to it. This reduces the unknowns about the property and its potential, minimizing risk factors for investors and buyers.

Why data is important in real estate? ›

Data-driven decision-making leads to better performance

It's clear that without data analytics, real estate management companies would struggle to manage building operations efficiently and improve property value.

What is a Level 4 data center? ›

Tier 4: A Tier 4 data center is built to be completely fault tolerant and has redundancy for every component. It has an expected uptime of 99.995% (26.3 minutes of downtime annually).

What will replace data centers? ›

Public cloud-based services are becoming more predominant as data centers transition from private to public cloud infrastructure. What's fueling this transition? Enterprises want to leverage the scale and expertise of cloud service providers to reduce their infrastructure services, costs and dedicated resources.

What is the future of datacenter? ›

A Look Into the Future of Data Centers

As information and data multiply, in-house, local data storage centers will struggle to stay afloat with increased storage requirements and capabilities for data management. The expansion of remote work amidst COVID-19 has led many companies to adopt a hybrid cloud approach.

Do data centres have a future? ›

Future-proofing data centres

The digital age has increased the demand for data centres that meet stringent security, energy efficiency, business continuity and productivity optimisation needs. In addition, data centres are also required to accommodate unpredictable future loads, and long-term sustainability.

What are the top 10 real estate companies in the world? ›

Rankings by Total Assets
RankProfileType
1.China Evergrande GroupReal Estate Company
2.Sunac ChinaReal Estate Company
3.Tishman SpeyerReal Estate Company
4.Hines GroupReal Estate Company
75 more rows

Why REITs are better than real estate? ›

Pros of REITs

They offer a low-cost way to invest in the real estate market. You can invest in a fund with as little as $500—a much lower entry point than direct real estate investing. Another benefit is that REITs offer enticing total return potential.

Can REIT make you rich? ›

REITs Are The Easiest, And Usually The Best, Way To Invest In Real Estate. While commercial real estate is where many of the world's millionaires and billionaires come from, you don't have to be a professional real estate developer to get rich from this sector.

What is the most popular data provider? ›

But who is the top service provider? According to various sources, the top four by market share are Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile in that order. However, when data is involved, there is always room for questioning. And that is exactly what we did.

Who are the biggest players in big data? ›

Use 'bigger than' and rewrite the sentence. - English.

Who sells big data? ›

Top Big Data Companies To Know
  • DISQO.
  • FOURKITES.
  • Starburst Data.
  • Centerfield.
  • Reonomy.
  • IBM.
  • Salesforce.
  • Alteryx.

What is the largest data center in the US? ›

Chicago is the headquarters of Lakeside Technology Center that covers an area of 1.1 million square feet. The facility belongs to the Digital Realty Trust and serves large tech companies like Facebook and IBM. The data center uses 8.5 million gallons of coolant annually and has 53 generators.

What is the data center capital of the world? ›

Thirty-four miles from Washington D.C. lies Ashburn, a city in Virginia's Loudon County. It may sound like just another regular city, but it's impressively known as the Data Center Capital of the World.

Which are the top 5 sources of big data? ›

The Primary Sources of Big Data:
  • Machine Data. In-Demand Software Development Skills.
  • Social Data.
  • Transactional Data.
27 Sept 2021

What are the 5 Which of big data? ›

Big data is a collection of data from many different sources and is often describe by five characteristics: volume, value, variety, velocity, and veracity.

Why big data is the best? ›

Big data analytics helps organizations harness their data and use it to identify new opportunities. That, in turn, leads to smarter business moves, more efficient operations, higher profits and happier customers. Businesses that use big data with advanced analytics gain value in many ways, such as: Reducing cost.

Which is better Mindspace REIT or embassy REIT? ›

Embassy REIT has the highest dividend yield & highest occupancy rate. Mindspace REIT offers the highest tax-free distribution (90%) compared to others.

Which is the best REIT to buy? ›

9 best REITs to buy for 2022:
  • Claros Mortgage Trust Inc. (CMTG)
  • Digital Realty Trust Inc. (DLR)
  • Rayonier Inc. (RYN)
  • Sabra Health Care REIT Inc. (SBRA)
  • Stag Industrial Inc. (STAG)
  • Ventas Inc. (VTR)
  • Vici Properties Inc. (VICI)
  • Vornado Realty Trust (VNO)
5 Aug 2022

Which REIT fund is best? ›

Vanguard Real Estate ETF (ticker: VNQ)
  • Vanguard Real Estate ETF (ticker: VNQ) ...
  • Schwab U.S. REIT ETF (SCHH) ...
  • Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLRE) ...
  • Vanguard Global ex-U.S. Real Estate ETF (VNQI) ...
  • Pacer Benchmark Data & Infrastructure Real Estate Sector ETF (SRVR) ...
  • iShares Mortgage Real Estate Capped ETF (REM)

How is Equinix a REIT? ›

Equinix (NASDAQ:EQIX) is an equity REIT that owns interests in 248 data centers in 70 cities around the world for the purposes of providing colocation and integration services, which make up to 92% of recurring revenues for the company.

Can you become a millionaire with REITs? ›

For example, earning 11% annual total returns on a $300/month contribution would allow an investor to surpass $1 million after just 33 years. Setting aside $100 a month for each of these three real estate investment trusts (REITs) could make you a millionaire in the span of just over three decades.

Which REIT is the safest? ›

Most REITs pay above-average dividends backed by steady rental income. However, some REIT dividends are safer than others. Three of the safest in the sector are those paid by Prologis (PLD 0.60%), Camden Properties Trust (CPT 1.44%), and Realty Income (O 0.28%).

What are the top 10 REITs in India? ›

Popular Real Estate Mutual Funds to Invest
  • Mahindra Manulife Asia Pacific REITs FOF fund.
  • Kotak International REIT FOF fund.
  • SBI Infrastructure Fund.
  • Sundaram Infrastructure Advantage Fund.
  • L&T Infrastructure Fund.
  • Quant Infrastructure Fund.
  • Invesco India Infrastructure Fund.
  • Tata Infrastructure Fund.
2 Aug 2022

How do REITs make money? ›

REITs make their money through the mortgages underlying real estate development or on rental incomes once the property is developed. REITs provide shareholders with steady income and, if held long-term, growth that reflects the appreciation of the property it owns.

What is the highest yielding REIT? ›

8 Of The Highest Yielding Equity REITs
  • Simon Property Group Inc. (NYSE: SPG) pays a 7.03% dividend. ...
  • Medical Properties Trust Inc. ...
  • Omega Healthcare Investors Inc. ...
  • Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE: VNO) pays an 8.06% dividend. ...
  • Sabra Health Care REIT Inc. ...
  • SL Green Realty Corp. ...
  • Uniti Group Inc. ...
  • Hudson Pacific Properties Inc.
19 Sept 2022

Can I invest in real estate with no money? ›

Purchase Money Mortgage/Seller Financing

The first proven way to invest in real estate with no money is through seller financing. When buyers are unable to secure a loan from financial institutions, they may opt to seek real estate financing from the sellers.

Why REITs are better than stocks? ›

The largest difference between REITs and dividend stocks is naturally their sector of focus. As the name suggests, REITs focus largely on the real estate sector. Dividend stocks on the other hand, are not limited to a single sector.

Is REIT safer than stock? ›

Risks of Publicly Traded REITs

Publicly traded REITs are a safer play than their non-exchange counterparts, but there are still risks.

How successful are REITs? ›

Steady dividends: Because REITs are required to pay 90% of their annual income as shareholder dividends, they consistently offer some of the highest dividend yields in the stock market. That makes them a favorite among investors looking for a steady stream of income.

How do data center REITs make money? ›

The REIT owns a portfolio of property, earns income, and pays out dividends to its shareholders. Generally, a REIT pays out 90% of its income to shareholders each month. Just like a regular company, investors can buy and sell shares of the REIT.

Does AWS use Equinix? ›

AWS ECS Anywhere and Equinix Metal make it easier for digital leaders to build locally and scale globally. AWS Direct Connect via Platform Equinix® offers unparalleled benefits for cloud infrastructures. Orchestrate business applications and data across multiple locations with performance, security and scale.

Who owns Equinix datacenter? ›

Equinix
Equinix headquarters in Redwood City
FoundersJay Adelson Al Avery
HeadquartersRedwood City, California , United States
Key peopleCharles J. Meyers (CEO and President)
ProductsData centers
14 more rows

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Rev. Porsche Oberbrunner

Last Updated:

Views: 5965

Rating: 4.2 / 5 (53 voted)

Reviews: 92% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Rev. Porsche Oberbrunner

Birthday: 1994-06-25

Address: Suite 153 582 Lubowitz Walks, Port Alfredoborough, IN 72879-2838

Phone: +128413562823324

Job: IT Strategist

Hobby: Video gaming, Basketball, Web surfing, Book restoration, Jogging, Shooting, Fishing

Introduction: My name is Rev. Porsche Oberbrunner, I am a zany, graceful, talented, witty, determined, shiny, enchanting person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.