Digital Realty Expands Into Türkiye With Joint Venture and Planned Ankara Data Center

Digital Realty Trust has formed a joint venture in Türkiye and announced plans to develop a 22-megawatt data center campus in Ankara, extending the global data center operator’s footprint into a growing Southeast European and Middle Eastern market.

The move marks a new country entry for Digital Realty, which operates Platform Digital, a global data center platform spanning colocation, interconnection, and related services. Ankara, the Turkish capital, has seen rising demand for computing capacity as enterprises and cloud providers expand regional infrastructure closer to end users.

Data center operators have been steadily pushing into emerging markets where supply remains limited relative to demand growth. Türkiye sits at a crossroads between Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia, positioning it as a potential connectivity hub. A 22MW campus would represent a meaningful initial commitment, large enough to serve multiple hyperscale or enterprise customers while leaving room for phased expansion.

For Digital Realty, the joint venture structure is consistent with how the company often finances development in new regions — sharing capital commitments and local market expertise with partners rather than funding builds entirely on its own balance sheet. The company operates as a specialty real estate investment trust, and new development capacity typically supports future leasing revenue over multi-year periods.

Shares of Digital Realty traded at $188.58 in recent trading, up 1.73% from the prior close of $185.37, valuing the company at roughly $65.5 billion. The announcement adds to a broader industry trend of established operators extending capacity into secondary and frontier markets as availability in core metros tightens.

What to watch

• Details on the joint venture partner, ownership split, and total capital commitment for the Ankara project
• Construction timelines and expected delivery dates for the first phase of the 22MW campus
• Pre-leasing or customer announcements for the Ankara facility
• Digital Realty’s upcoming quarterly earnings, where management may outline its development pipeline and capital allocation priorities

Source: original release