Digital Realty, a company that operates data centers worldwide, announced plans Thursday to relocate its corporate headquarters from San Francisco to Austin.
It is the latest company to pull up stakes and move operations from California to Texas. Among them, Oracle announced last month that it plans to move its headquarters to Austin. And Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced plans to move its headquarters to Houston.
Digital Realty, founded in 2002, has 1,550 employees and revenues of more than $3 billion in 2019. The company plans to keep a “significant presence” in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Digital Realty already has operations in Texas, which date back to “2002 when its predecessor acquired 2323 Bryan Street, a major regional connectivity hub in downtown Dallas.”
Today, Digital Realty has more than 30 data centers in Texas, encompassing more than four million square feet and more than 100 megawatts of customer capacity. It also has nearly 20 percent of its North American workforce based in the state. It also has a data center in Austin.
Overall, Digital Realty has more than 280 data center facilities in 49 metros across 24 countries on six continents.
“The central location, affordable cost of living, highly educated workforce and supportive business climate have helped make Texas an epicenter for business activity and technology growth,” Digital Realty Chief Executive Officer A. William Stein said in a news release. “As we continue to make strategic investments to best position Digital Realty for long-term growth, we are confident our expansion in Texas will help us meet the needs of our more than 4,000 global customers while continuing to deliver value for our stakeholders, employees, and the communities we serve around the world.”
Digital Realty also plans to use wind energy and solar energy to power 70 percent of its data center projects in Texas by mid-year.
“We are excited that Digital Realty has chosen Texas as the new home for their corporate headquarters, and I thank them for their expanded investment in the Lone Star State,” Governor Greg Abbott said in a news release. “Digital Realty joins other global technology leaders and more than 50 Fortune 500 companies now headquartered in Texas. We are seeing increasing investments from innovative businesses thanks to our young, growing, and educated workforce, and our pro-growth economic policies that help job-creating businesses to thrive.”
