Publicly-listed data center firms Digital Realty, Equinix, and Iron Mountain have published their Q4 2024 quarterly earnings results.

2024 marked another good year for the data center sector, with healthy results across the board, and optimistic projections for the year ahead.

American Tower is yet to publish its results.

Digital Realty: Acquires land for 400MW campus in Charlotte, North Carolina

Digital Realty reported revenues of $1.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, a slight increase from the previous quarter and a five percent increase from the same quarter last year.

The company delivered net income of $186 million and generated Adjusted EBITDA of $751 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, a one percent decrease from the previous quarter and a seven percent increase over the same quarter last year.

"2024 was a remarkable year for Digital Realty, with record leasing driving impressive growth in our revenue backlog, and providing compelling visibility into our accelerating earnings growth," said Digital Realty president and CEO, Andy Power.

"In the fourth quarter, we achieved multiple milestones across our growing 0-1 megawatt plus interconnection segment, eclipsing last quarter's bookings record and adding a record 166 new customers to the platform, demonstrating the continued success of our global, full-spectrum data center strategy."

The fourth quarter saw Digital sign $100 million in bookings, alongside renewal leases representing $250 million.

Europe and North America totaled $35 million and $34 million in new leases were in the US, with more than $61 million globally coming from the sub-1MW category. The company noted it had won AI chip startup Tenstorrent as a customer.

During the quarter, Digital Realty closed on a previously announced acquisition of a 6.7-acre parcel in Richardson, Texas, for approximately $15 million. Located adjacent to its existing campus, the site can support the development of up to 100 megawatts of incremental IT capacity.

Digital also closed on the acquisition of 156 acres of land along Moores Chapel Road in Charlotte, North Carolina for $160 million, which can support up to 400MW of IT capacity. The company currently operates a site in Charlotte, at 113 North Myers, totaling 2MW.

The company also bought three acres of land in Madrid, Spain for approximately €25 million ($26m), which can support up to 24MW of IT capacity (for MAD5).

The quarter also saw Digital close on the sale of three facilities; one in San Jose, California for approximately $10 million (2334 Lundy Place – sold to Overton Moore Properties); one in Trumbull, Connecticut for approximately $10 million; and a site in Redhill, UK for approximately £64 million ($80m).

Digital also closed on the sale of an additional 15.1 percent interest in a data center located in Frankfurt, Germany, to Digital Core REIT for approximately $74 million. Including two prior investments, Digital Core REIT now owns a 65 percent interest in this Frankfurt data center.

During the quarter, Digital signed a community solar deal with Illinois Shines to offtake from three solar projects in Will and Livingston Counties totaling 19.8 Mwdc.

Equinix: Targets $9 billion in revenues for 2025

Equinix posted Q4 2024 revenue of $2.261 billion, operating incoming of $1.221 billion, and Adjusted EBITDA of $1.0121 billion.

For the year, Equinix posted revenues of $8.748 billion, up seven percent on 2023. Operating Income was $1.328 billion, an eight percent decrease; and Adjusted EBITDA was $4.097 billion.

"We had an outstanding close to 2024, with revenues for the full year up eight percent year-over-year," said Adaire Fox-Martin, CEO and president, Equinix. "Our strategic focus on our customers, solutions, and capacity has not only driven remarkable financial results, but also positioned Equinix to make the very most of the growing AI opportunity. With 22 years of consecutive quarterly revenue growth, a record-breaking Q4 and full year in gross bookings, and significant advancements in our xScale portfolio, we have demonstrated our ability to deliver sustained value to our customers and shareholders alike—all whilst setting our business and ecosystem up to scale even more in the years ahead."

Capex for the quarter was $987 million. For 2025, Equinix is forecasting more than $9 billion in revenue.

On its xScale hyperscale efforts, the company leased 31MW across its Paris 12 and 13 sites, taking xScale leasing to more than 400MW globally.

Newly approved expansions include BG2 phase 2 in Bogota (550 racks, Q2 2026); IL3 phase 1 in Istanbul (1,325 racks, Q3 2026); TY15 phase 2 in Tokyo (1,000 racks, Q2 2027); and JH2 phase 2 in Johor (1,125 racks, Q3 2027).

The quarter saw the company close its AT2, AT3, and AT5 data centers in Atlanta, Georgia. AT2 and AT3 were located at the 56 Marietta carrier hotel, while AT5 was located at 2836 Peterson Place Northwest, Norcross. Exits from all three were announced back in 2021. Equinix retains AT1 and AT4.

The company said the restructuring announced in November cost the company $27 million, while it expects to incure costs of $10-14m related to the closure of its bare metal offering alongside an impairment charge of $160 million.

Iron Mountain: Hits $620 million data center revenue for 2024

During Q4 2023, Iron Mountain’s data center unit totaled $170.1 million, with an Adjusted EBITDA of $88.13 million. Both were up on Q3 2024 and the year previously.

For the year, IM’s data center unit totaled $620 million in revenue, up 25 percent on 2023.

For the whole company, total Q4 revenues were $1.6 billion, up 11.4 percent on Q4 2023. Net Income for the fourth quarter was $105.7 million and Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $605.1m.

“We are pleased to report that our fourth quarter and full year 2024 results were an all-time record for revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and AFFO. We continue to execute well against our Project Matterhorn growth strategy, delivering double-digit revenue growth in Q4 with strength across each of our business segments. We are grateful to our Mountaineers for their continued dedication to serving our customers, which is driving our outstanding results,” said William L. Meaney, president and CEO of Iron Mountain.

During the quarter, Iron Mountain signed 71 new or expansion leases totaling 9.6MW, and renewed 216 leases totaling 5.9MW. For the full year, the company signed 335 new or expansion leases totaling 115.8MW and renewed 893 leases totaling 24.6MW. The company is projecting 125MW of leasing in 2025.

During the earnings call, Meany noted the company “decided to pass on a significant opportunity in the fourth quarter” in order to maintain its underwriting returns expectations.

“We did have a very large opportunity in our pipeline that gave us visibility to 130 plus megawatts for the year and we passed on it at the end because we felt that at the end of the year, sometimes customers have an expectation of the discount they're going to get to give you a lease before the year-end,” he said.

“And we just didn't like the pricing on that, especially when we look out at our pipeline and we see all the hyperscale opportunities that we already have in the pipeline. These are 10-year contracts, so we're not going to make short-term decisions just to hit a leasing number.”