Organization and Description of Business	12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2021
Organization and Description of Business
Organization and Description of Business	1. Organization and Description of Business Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (the Parent), through its controlling interest in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. (the Operating Partnership or the OP) and the subsidiaries of the OP (collectively, we, our, us or the Company), is a leading global provider of data center (including colocation and interconnection) solutions for customers across a variety of industry verticals ranging from cloud and information technology services, social networking and communications to financial services, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and consumer products. The OP, a Maryland limited partnership, is the entity through which the Parent, a Maryland corporation, conducts its business of owning, acquiring, developing and operating data centers. The Parent operates as a REIT for federal income tax purposes. The Parent’s only material asset is its ownership of partnership interests of the OP. As a result, the Parent generally does not conduct business itself, other than acting as the sole general partner of the OP, issuing public securities from time to time and guaranteeing certain unsecured debt of the OP and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates. The Parent has not issued any debt but guarantees the unsecured debt of the OP and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates. The OP holds substantially all the assets of the Company. The OP conducts the operations of the business and has no publicly traded equity. Except for net proceeds from public equity issuances by the Parent, which are generally contributed to the OP in exchange for partnership units, in general, the OP generates the capital required by the Company’s business primarily through the OP’s operations, by the OP’s or its affiliates’ direct or indirect incurrence of indebtedness or through the issuance of partnership units.

Organization and Description of Business

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2021

Organization and Description of Business

Organization and Description of Business

1. Organization and Description of Business

Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (the Parent), through its controlling interest in Digital Realty Trust, L.P. (the Operating Partnership or the OP) and the subsidiaries of the OP (collectively, we, our, us or the Company), is a leading global provider of data center (including colocation and interconnection) solutions for customers across a variety of industry verticals ranging from cloud and information technology services, social networking and communications to financial services, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, and consumer products. The OP, a Maryland limited partnership, is the entity through which the Parent, a Maryland corporation, conducts its business of owning, acquiring, developing and operating data centers. The Parent operates as a REIT for federal income tax purposes.

The Parent’s only material asset is its ownership of partnership interests of the OP. As a result, the Parent generally does not conduct business itself, other than acting as the sole general partner of the OP, issuing public securities from time to time and guaranteeing certain unsecured debt of the OP and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates. The Parent has not issued any debt but guarantees the unsecured debt of the OP and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates.

The OP holds substantially all the assets of the Company. The OP conducts the operations of the business and has no publicly traded equity. Except for net proceeds from public equity issuances by the Parent, which are generally contributed to the OP in exchange for partnership units, in general, the OP generates the capital required by the Company’s business primarily through the OP’s operations, by the OP’s or its affiliates’ direct or indirect incurrence of indebtedness or through the issuance of partnership units.