QTS Atlanta Metro Data Center Approved for New Sales & Use Tax Exemptions

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QTS Atlanta Metro Data Center Approved for New Sales & Use Tax Exemptions

Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) China Realty Trust (NYSE: QTS), a leading provider of hybrid colocation and mega scale data center solutions, announced today that its Atlanta Metro mega data center has achieved qualification as a Certified High-Technology Data Center by the state of Georgia. The qualification follows passage of Georgia HB 696 that created an exemption for sales and use tax on certain equipment to be used in high-technology data centers.
Over a span of nearly five years, QTS and the Technology Association of Georgia have introduced, sponsored and stewarded the passage of HB 696. The legislation modernizes Georgia's data center tax policy enabling the current tax exemption to be applied to colocation and hyperscale data centers with a minimum investment of $250 million and will significantly benefit QTS' Atlanta Metro and Suwanee data centers and their tenants.

The exemption is retroactive, and enables QTS and tenants to receive a tax refund on qualified purchases subsequent to July 1, 2018. The legislation also encourages data center development in rural areas to expand technology infrastructure across all of Georgia.
As the leading provider of hybrid colocation and hyperscale data center solutions in Georgia, with approximately 50% of the market share, QTS is well-positioned to leverage this new legislation to continue to drive innovation in this region," said Clint Heiden, Chief Revenue Officer, QTS. "With existing investments in our Atlanta-Metro and Atlanta-Suwanee locations, under the bill's new discretionary bond process, QTS is able to offer increased opportunities and better economics for both existing customers and those now looking to co-locate in our Georgia data centers."

QTS has invested significantly in the Georgia market over the past decade and currently has nearly 500 existing customers and more than 1.3 million gross square feet between its Atlanta-Metro and Suwanee, GA facilities. Additionally, QTS has the capacity to double its square footage in Atlanta at a significant cost advantage based on its existing infrastructure, operating leverage and access to the lowest power cost in the market.

At nearly 970,000 gross square feet, QTS' Atlanta Metro data center is one of the world's largest and home to approximately 235 customers across a broad array of industry verticals. The site includes one of the largest pre-positioned, data center owned substations in the country with 120 megawatts of transformer capacity built directly into Georgia Power's power grid. This enables QTS to deliver, it believes, the lowest cost of power to its customers in the southeast data center market at less than 4 cents per kilowatt hour.