Digital Realty Trust DLR has announced the final close of its $3.25 billion U.S. hyperscale data center fund, marking a significant step in scaling its development pipeline. The fund is designed to support large-scale, cloud-driven infrastructure projects, where demand remains strong due to AI workloads and enterprise digitization.
The fund targets hyperscale data center development and ownership in key U.S. Tier I markets such as Northern Virginia, Santa Clara, Dallas, Atlanta, Charlotte and New York. Digital Realty will hold a 20% stake in the Fund’s portfolio and manage operations, leasing, development and financing.
This move gives Digital Realty a clear financial advantage. By bringing in private capital, the company can expand hyperscale capacity without overburdening its balance sheet. It also improves returns through fee-based income while maintaining exposure to high-growth data center markets.
The company has been actively strengthening its global footprint. It recently expanded its Mediterranean presence through land acquisitions in Milan to support a strategic platform, enhancing connectivity across key digital corridors. This builds on its broader strategy of placing assets in high-demand, network-dense locations that attract cloud providers and large enterprises.
Digital Realty has also entered newer European markets. Its expansion into Portugal marks a push into Southern Europe’s growing digital ecosystem, while its move into Bulgaria adds a highly connected facility in a region seeing rising data demand. These efforts show a consistent focus on capturing emerging demand pockets while reinforcing its global platform.
Wrapping Up on Digital Realty
Overall, the hyperscale fund’s close aligns well with Digital Realty’s long-term growth strategy and scaling up of its PlatformDIGITAL. With strong demand drivers, disciplined capital deployment and continued international expansion, the company appears well-positioned to grow earnings steadily.
Over the past three months, shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company have rallied 13.4% compared with the industry's nearly breakeven performance.
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Stocks to Consider
Some better-ranked stocks from the broader REIT sector are Chatham Lodging Trust REIT CLDT, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), and Terreno Realty TRNO, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CLDT’s 2026 FFO per share is pegged at $1.20, which indicates year-over-year growth of 17.7%.
The consensus estimate for TRNO’s full-year FFO per share is pinned at $2.79, which calls for a marginal increase from the year-ago period.
Note: Anything related to earnings presented in this write-up represents funds from operations (FFO) — a widely used metric to gauge the performance of REITs.
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Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (DLR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).