Digital Realty Publishes Report on Value of Data Economy for G7 Countries

LONDON, June 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — Digital Realty (NYSE:DLR, news, filings), a leading global provider of data centre, colocation and interconnection solutions, announced today the findings of The Data Economy Report, an inaugural, first-of-its kind, and comprehensive evaluation of data’s economic contribution to the G7 countries. The report highlights the value of data in today’s digital economy and demonstrates the need to invest in talent and infrastructure to unlock the full potential for job creation and business growth across the G7.

Highlights and key takeaways from the report include:

• Value.  Data adds more than $1.7 trillion to the world’s seven richest economies. On a standalone basis, the value of the G7’s data would represent the world’s 10^th largest economy, ahead of Canada, South Korea and Russia.
• Investment.  There is significant value in continuing to invest in data, from direct investment in the physical infrastructure of data centres and connections to the broader needs of a skilled workforce.
• Top Countries.  Measured by efficiency savings, productivity gains and job creation, the data economy contributes:
  • more than $1 trillion to the United States economy per year¹
  • $219 billion in Japan
  • $126 billion in Germany
  • $105 billion in the United Kingdom²
• Potential for Growth.  The UK currently extracts 58% of its potential data value, while Germany extracts 55% of its potential value, despite boasting a larger data economy.
  • The ability for these countries to monetize their data economy has been somewhat constrained to date by the need for talent and workforce training in data collection and analytics.
• Infrastructure.  Key infrastructure such as internet connectivity and data centres, which hold, process, and transmit data around the world, are major enablers of the data economy. For example, each new data centre in the UK adds $582 million of value to its economy each year.

“The global data centre industry is uniquely positioned to spearhead growth initiatives and development opportunities for our economy and society,” said Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein. “The evolving data economy is creating significant opportunities for businesses all over the world to generate economic growth and increase job creation. Our findings show that with public-private collaboration, we can take advantage of this pivotal moment in our history to leverage the full potential of data for global economic growth. Now is the time for a renewed focus on investment in innovative technologies, relevant workforce training, R&D, and digital infrastructure.”

Digital Realty Managing Director EMEA Rob Coupland added, “The data centre industry is key to capitalizing on the opportunities presented by the data economy. Providing the secure, reliable and high-speed data centre solutions which enable businesses to prosper and economies to grow, industry participants have established critical digital foundations, every bit as important as a country’s physical infrastructure.”

To download the 2018 The Data Economy Report, visit
www.digitalrealty.com/DataEconomy.

For more on Digital Realty’s EMEA Platform, visit
www.digitalrealty.com/Data-Centers/Europe.

About Digital Realty
Digital Realty supports the data centre, colocation and interconnection strategies of more than 2,300 firms across its secure, network-rich portfolio of data centres located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.  Digital Realty’s clients include domestic and international companies of all sizes, ranging from cloud and information technology services, communications and social networking to financial services, manufacturing, energy, healthcare and consumer products.  https://www.digitalrealty.com/

For Additional Information
Andrew P. Power
Chief Financial Officer
Digital Realty
415-738-6500

Media Inquiries
Sue Jones
VP, Marketing
Digital Realty
+44 203 873 0145
s.jones@digitalrealty.com

Elaine Hynes
Teneo Blue Rubicon
+44 20 7260 2778
+44 7917 165829

Safe Harbour Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially, including statements related to the Data Economy Report, the effect and potential of data on the economies of countries, the expected benefits of data centres in the global economy and the data economy.  These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the following: reduced demand for data centres or decreases in information technology spending; decreased rental rates, increased operating costs or increased vacancy rates; increased competition or available supply of data centre space; the suitability of our data centres and data centre infrastructure, delays or disruptions in connectivity or availability of power, or failures or breaches of our physical and information security infrastructure or services; our dependence upon significant customers, bankruptcy or insolvency of a major customer or a significant number of smaller customers, or defaults on or non-renewal of leases by customers; breaches of our obligations or restrictions under our contracts with our customers; our inability to successfully develop and lease new properties and development space, and delays or unexpected costs in development of properties; the impact of current global and local economic, credit and market conditions; our inability to retain data centre space that we lease or sublease from third parties; difficulty acquiring or operating properties in foreign jurisdictions; our failure to realize the intended benefits from, or disruptions to our plans and operations or unknown or contingent liabilities related to, our recent acquisitions; our failure to successfully integrate and operate acquired or developed properties or businesses; difficulties in identifying properties to acquire and completing acquisitions; risks related to joint venture investments, including as a result of our lack of control of such investments; risks associated with using debt to fund our business activities, including re-financing and interest rate risks, our failure to repay debt when due, adverse changes in our credit ratings or our breach of covenants or other terms contained in our loan facilities and agreements; our failure to obtain necessary debt and equity financing, and our dependence on external sources of capital; financial market fluctuations and changes in foreign currency exchange rates; adverse economic or real estate developments in our industry or the industry sectors that we sell to, including risks relating to decreasing real estate valuations and impairment charges and goodwill and other intangible asset impairment charges; our inability to manage our growth effectively; losses in excess of our insurance coverage; environmental liabilities and risks related to natural disasters; our inability to comply with rules and regulations applicable to our company; our failure to maintain our status as a REIT for federal income tax purposes; our operating partnership’s failure to qualify as a partnership for federal income tax purposes; restrictions on our ability to engage in certain business activities; and changes in local, state, federal and international laws and regulations, including related to taxation, real estate and zoning laws, and increases in real property tax rates.  For a further list and description of such risks and uncertainties, see the reports and other filings by the company with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2018.  The company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Notes for editors:

The Data Economy Report was researched and created between December 2017 and March 2018.

The report was commissioned by Digital Realty and researched and created by economics consultancy, Development Economics.

All data was created from data complete until the end of 2016, the latest available data set, and Development Economics’ own data.

¹ Based on World Bank national accounts data: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.CD?end=2016&start=1960&view=chart&year_high_desc=true

² Exchange rate: 1 EUR = 1.16925 USD (XE.com, 04.06.18)

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SOURCE Digital Realty