EQIX US Equity☆

ITEM 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

The following commentary should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and related notes contained elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The information in this discussion contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements are based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties. Any statements contained herein that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. For example, the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Our actual results and the timing of certain events may differ significantly from the results discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, those discussed in "Liquidity and Capital Resources" and "Risk Factors" elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. All forward-looking statements in this document are based on information available to us as of the date hereof and we assume no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements.

Item 7 of this Form 10-K focuses on discussion of 2020 and 2019 items as well as 2020 results as compared to 2019 results. For the discussion of 2018 items and 2019 results as compared to 2018 results, please refer to Item 7 of our 2019 Form 10-K as filed with the SEC on February 21, 2020.

Our management's discussion and analysis of financial condition and results of operations is intended to assist readers in understanding our financial information from our management's perspective and is presented as follows:

•Overview

•Results of Operations

•Non-GAAP Financial Measures

•Liquidity and Capital Resources

•Contractual Obligations and Off-Balance-Sheet Arrangements

•Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

•Recent Accounting Pronouncements

Overview

Equinix is a global digital infrastructure company, enabling digital leaders to harness a trusted platform to bring together and interconnect the foundational infrastructure that powers their success. Equinix enables today’s businesses to access all the right places, partners and possibilities they need to accelerate their advantage. Global enterprises, service providers and business ecosystems of industry partners rely on Equinix IBX data centers and

51

Table of Contents

expertise around the world for the safe housing of their critical IT equipment and to protect and connect the world's most valued information assets. They also look to Platform Equinix® for the ability to directly and securely interconnect to the networks, clouds and content that enable today's information-driven global digital economy. Recent Equinix IBX data center openings and acquisitions, as well as xScaleTM data center investments, have expanded our total global footprint to 227 IBXs, including two xScaleTM data centers and the MC1 data center that were held in unconsolidated joint ventures, across 63 markets around the world. Equinix offers the following solutions:

•premium data center colocation;

•interconnection and data exchange solutions;

•edge services for deploying networking, security and hardware; and

•remote expert support and professional services.

Our interconnected data centers around the world allow our customers to increase information and application delivery performance to users, and quickly access distributed IT infrastructures and business and digital ecosystems, while significantly reducing costs. The Equinix global platform and the quality of our IBX data centers, interconnection offerings and edge services have enabled us to establish a critical mass of customers. As more customers choose Platform Equinix, for bandwidth cost and performance reasons it benefits their suppliers and business partners to colocate in the same data centers. This adjacency creates a “network effect” that enables our customers to capture the full economic and performance benefits of our offerings. These partners, in turn, pull in their business partners, creating a "marketplace" for their services. Our global platform enables scalable, reliable and cost-effective interconnection that increases data traffic exchange while lowering overall cost and increasing flexibility. Our focused business model is built on our critical mass of enterprise and service provider customers and the resulting "marketplace" effect. This global platform, combined with our strong financial position, continues to drive new customer growth and bookings.

Historically, our market was served by large telecommunications carriers who have bundled their products and services with their colocation offerings. The data center market landscape has evolved to include private and vendor-neutral MTDC providers, hyperscale cloud providers, managed infrastructure and application hosting providers, and systems integrators. It is estimated that Equinix is one of more than 1,200 companies that provide MTDC offerings around the world. Each of these data center solutions providers can bundle various colocation, interconnection and network offerings and outsourced IT infrastructure solutions. We are able to offer our customers a global platform that reaches 26 countries with the industry’s largest and most active ecosystem of partners in our sites, proven operational reliability, improved application performance and a highly scalable set of offerings.

The cabinet utilization rate represents the percentage of cabinet space billed versus total cabinet capacity, which is used to measure how efficiently we are managing our cabinet capacity. Our cabinet utilization rate varies from market to market among our IBX data centers across the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions. Our cabinet utilization rates were approximately 79%, as of December 31, 2020 and 2019. Excluding the impact of our IBX data center expansion projects that have opened during the last 12 months, our cabinet utilization rate would have increased to approximately 80% as of December 31, 2020. We continue to monitor the available capacity in each of our selected markets. To the extent we have limited capacity available in a given market, it may limit our ability for growth in that market. We perform demand studies on an ongoing basis to determine if future expansion is warranted in a market. In addition, power and cooling requirements for most customers are growing on a per unit basis. As a result, customers are consuming an increasing amount of power per cabinet. Although we generally do not control the amount of power our customers draw from installed circuits, we have negotiated power consumption limitations with certain high power-demand customers. This increased power consumption has driven us to build out our new IBX data centers to support power and cooling needs twice that of previous IBX data centers. We could face power limitations in our IBX data centers, even though we may have additional physical cabinet capacity available within a specific IBX data center. This could have a negative impact on the available utilization capacity of a given IBX data center, which could have a negative impact on our ability to grow revenues, affecting our financial performance, results of operations and cash flows.

In 2019, we closed our EMEA Joint Venture with GIC to develop and operate xScaleTM data centers to serve the needs of the growing hyperscale data center market, including the world's largest cloud service providers. Upon closing, the EMEA Joint Venture acquired certain data center sites, including the London 10 data center, Paris 8 data center and few data center sites in London and Frankfurt, with the opportunity to add additional facilities in the future. In 2020, we sold the Paris 9 data center to the EMEA Joint Venture. In addition, we closed our Asia-Pacific Joint Venture with GIC in APAC to develop and operate xScaleTM data centers. Upon closing, the Asia-Pacific Joint

52

Table of Contents

Venture acquired Osaka 2, Tokyo 12, and Tokyo 14 data center development sites in the APAC region, with the opportunity to add additional facilities in the future.

Strategically, we will continue to look at attractive opportunities to grow our market share and selectively improve our footprint and offerings. As was the case with our recent expansions and acquisitions, our expansion criteria will be dependent on a number of factors, including but not limited to demand from new and existing customers, quality of the design, power capacity, access to networks, clouds and software partners, capacity availability in the current market location, amount of incremental investment required by us in the targeted property, automation capabilities, developer talent pool, lead-time to break even on a free cash flow basis and in-place customers. Like our recent expansions and acquisitions, the right combination of these factors may be attractive to us. Depending on the circumstances, these transactions may require additional capital expenditures funded by upfront cash payments or through long-term financing arrangements in order to bring these properties up to Equinix standards. Property expansion may be in the form of purchases of real property, long-term leasing arrangements or acquisitions. Future purchases, construction or acquisitions may be completed by us or with partners or potential customers to minimize the outlay of cash, which can be significant.

Revenue:

Our business is based on a recurring revenue model comprised of colocation and related interconnection and managed infrastructure offerings. We consider these offerings recurring because our customers are generally billed on a fixed and recurring basis each month for the duration of their contract, which is generally one to three years in length. Our recurring revenues have comprised more than 90% of our total revenues during the past three years. In addition, during the past three years, more than 80% of our monthly recurring revenue bookings came from existing customers, contributing to our revenue growth. Our largest customer accounted for approximately 3% of our recurring revenues for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018. Our 50 largest customers accounted for approximately 39%, 39% and 38%, respectively, of our recurring revenues for the years ended December 31, 2020, 2019 and 2018.

Our non-recurring revenues are primarily comprised of installation services related to a customer's initial deployment and professional services we perform. These services are considered to be non-recurring because they are billed typically once, upon completion of the installation or the professional services work performed. The majority of these non-recurring revenues are typically billed on the first invoice distributed to the customer in connection with their initial installation. However, revenues from installation services are deferred and recognized ratably over the period of the contract term. Additionally, revenue from contract settlements, when a customer wishes to terminate their contract early, is generally treated as a contract modification and recognized ratably over the remaining term of the contract, if any. As a percentage of total revenues, we expect non-recurring revenues to represent less than 10% of total revenues for the foreseeable future.

Operating Expenses:

Cost of Revenues. The largest components of our cost of revenues are depreciation, rental payments related to our leased IBX data centers, utility costs, including electricity, bandwidth access, IBX data center employees' salaries and benefits, including stock-based compensation, repairs and maintenance, supplies and equipment and security. A majority of our cost of revenues is fixed in nature and should not vary significantly from period to period,

53

Table of Contents

unless we expand our existing IBX data centers or open or acquire new IBX data centers. However, there are certain costs that are considered more variable in nature, including utilities and supplies that are directly related to growth in our existing and new customer base. We expect the cost of our utilities, specifically electricity, will generally increase in the future on a per-unit or fixed basis, in addition to the variable increase related to the growth in consumption by our customers. In addition, the cost of electricity is generally higher in the summer months, as compared to other times of the year. To the extent we incur increased utility costs, such increased costs could materially impact our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows. Furthermore, to the extent we incur increased electricity or other costs as a result of either climate change policies or the physical effects of climate change, such increased costs could materially impact our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.

Sales and Marketing. Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of compensation and related costs for sales and marketing personnel, including stock-based compensation, amortization of contract costs, marketing programs, public relations, promotional materials and travel, as well as bad debt expense and amortization of customer relationship intangible assets.

General and Administrative. Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and related expenses, including stock-based compensation, accounting, legal and other professional service fees, and other general corporate expenses, such as our corporate regional headquarters office leases and some depreciation expense on back office systems.

Taxation as a REIT

We elected to be taxed as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes beginning with our 2015 taxable year. As of December 31, 2020, our REIT structure included all of our data center operations in the U.S., Canada (with the exception of our data center in Ottawa), Mexico, Japan, Singapore and the data center operations in EMEA with the exception of Bulgaria, the United Arab Emirates, and the data center operations outside Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Our data center operations in other jurisdictions are operated as TRSs. We included our investment interest in the EMEA and Asia-Pacific Joint Ventures in our REIT structure.

As a REIT, we generally are permitted to deduct from our U.S. federal taxable income the dividends we pay to our stockholders. The income represented by such dividends is not subject to U.S. federal income taxes at the entity level but is taxed, if at all, at the stockholder level. Nevertheless, the income of our TRSs which hold our U.S. operations that may not be REIT compliant is subject to U.S. corporate federal and state income taxes, as applicable. Likewise, our foreign subsidiaries continue to be subject to foreign income taxes in jurisdictions in which they hold assets or conduct operations, regardless of whether held or conducted through TRSs or through QRSs. We are also subject to a separate U.S. federal corporate income tax on any gain recognized from a sale of a REIT asset where our basis in the asset is determined by reference to the basis of the asset in the hands of a C corporation (such as an asset held by us or a QRS following the liquidation or other conversion of a former TRS). This built-in-gains tax is generally applicable to any disposition of such an asset during the five-year period after the date we first owned the asset as a REIT asset to the extent of the built-in-gain based on the fair market value of such asset on the date we first held the asset as a REIT asset. If we fail to remain qualified for U.S. federal income taxation as a REIT, we will be subject to U.S. federal income taxes at regular corporate income tax rates. In addition, should we have net income from "prohibited transactions," we will be subject to tax on this income at a 100% rate. "Prohibited transactions," for this purpose, are defined as dispositions, at a gain, of inventory or property held primarily for sale to customers in the ordinary course of a trade or business other than dispositions of foreclosure property and other than dispositions excepted by statutory safe harbors. Even if we remain qualified for U.S. federal income taxation as a REIT, we may be subject to some federal, state, local and foreign taxes on our income and property in addition to taxes owed with respect to our TRSs' operations. In particular, while state income tax regimes often parallel the U.S. federal income tax regime for REITs, many states do not completely follow federal rules, and some may not follow them at all.

We continue to monitor our REIT compliance in order to maintain our qualification for U.S. federal income taxation as a REIT. For this and other reasons, as necessary, we may convert some of our data center operations in other countries into the REIT structure in future periods.

On each of March 18, June 17, September 23, and December 9, 2020 we paid quarterly cash dividends of $2.66 per share. We expect the amount of our applicable dividends and other applicable distributions to equal or exceed the REIT taxable income that we recognized in 2020.

54

Table of Contents

The Impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on Our Results and Operations

In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus, referred to as Coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19, emerged. In February 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) raised the COVID-19 threat from high to very high, and in March 2020, the WHO characterized COVID-19 as a global pandemic. The global pandemic and the efforts implemented to address the pandemic, including the issuance of “shelter-in-place” orders and social distancing guidelines, have impacted major economic and financial markets globally.

Many of our IBX data centers have been identified as "essential businesses" or "critical infrastructure" by local governments for purposes of remaining open during the COVID-19 pandemic. All of our IBX data centers remain operational at the time of filing of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We have activated our business continuity plans globally with the goal of providing seamless operations throughout our facilities, including provisions for ensuring all data centers remain staffed and fully operational and that our IBXs are equipped with the necessary equipment and supplies. We have implemented precautionary measures to minimize the risk of operational impact and to protect the health and safety of our employees, customers, partners and communities. These include implementing tools such as an appointment-based system to control timing and frequency of visits while also encouraging our customers to leverage our IBX technicians via Smart Hands, our remote operational support service, in order to restrict visits and minimize the number of people and the amount of time spent in our IBX facilities.

Most of our corporate offices remain closed as a result of the pandemic and we instructed our non-IBX employees in these offices to work from home until further notice. We have announced a phased plan for return-to-office for non-IBX attached sites and have been following this plan to open certain offices with occupancy limits as local conditions allow. Additionally, we have decided to continue to limit employee travel and postpone or virtualize global events in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are experiencing some construction delays, however, to date, the construction delays and additional costs are insignificant relative to the overall project duration and budget. Equipment for construction projects which are scheduled to be placed in the near future has been ordered, and is currently being manufactured or delivered with minimal delays. We are actively monitoring our vendors and suppliers to evaluate any anticipated changes in equipment availability or delivery timetables. We have redundancies built into our supply chain of vendors and, to the best of our ability, we keep a stock of critical items on site to ensure repairs can be completed. To date, we have not observed any significant disruption to our IBX data center operations due to supply chain impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic did not have a material impact on our results of operations. The majority of our revenue is derived from large companies across a diverse set of industries. Customers operating in sectors more drastically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as retail, travel, and energy, made up an insignificant percentage of our revenue. Smart Hands service revenues declined during the year ended December 31, 2020, as we waived Smart Hands service fees from the affected customers in certain circumstances during the first few months of the pandemic. We ceased to waive Smart Hands service fees for most customers as of June 30, 2020. We assessed realized and potential credit deterioration of our customers due to changes in the macroeconomic environment, considered the potential for payment term revision requests, and as a result, increased our allowance for credit losses for accounts receivable by an insignificant amount for the year ended December 31, 2020. We also incurred one-time cash bonuses and compensation expense of $8.6 million for our IBX employees as well as other employees to support their work-from-home requirements during the first quarter of 2020. We have experienced some travel expense savings during the year ended December 31, 2020 resulting from travel restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Looking ahead, the full impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our future financial condition or results of operations remains uncertain and will depend on a number of factors, including the duration and potential cyclicity of the health crisis and further public policy actions to be taken in response, as well as the continued impact of the pandemic on the global economy and our customers and vendors. Our past results may not be indicative of our future performance and historical trends may differ materially.

For additional details regarding the risks to our business from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, refer to Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

2020 Highlights:

•In January, we redeemed the remaining $343.7 million principal amount of the 5.375% Senior Notes due 2022. See Note 11 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

55

Table of Contents

•In January, we completed the acquisition of three data centers in Mexico from Axtel for a total purchase consideration of approximately $189.0 million. See Note 3 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In March, we completed the Packet Acquisition, a leading bare metal automation platform for a total purchase consideration of approximately $290.3 million. See Note 3 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In March, we borrowed a total of $250.0 million under our Revolving Facility, which was fully repaid in May. As of December 31, 2020, the amount available to borrow under the Revolving Facility was approximately $1.9 billion. See Note 11 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In April, we entered into a credit agreement which provided for senior unsecured 364-day term loan facilities in an aggregate principal amount of $750.0 million. On April 15, 2020, we borrowed $391.0 million, as well as €100.0 million or $109.8 million at the exchange rate in effect on that date. In May and June, we repaid all amounts outstanding under the 364-day term loan facilities. See Note 11 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In April, we entered into an agreement to form a second joint venture in the form of a limited liability partnership with GIC to develop and operate xScaleTM data centers in APAC. In the third quarter of 2020, we recorded an impairment charge of $7.3 million, reducing the carrying value of the three Japan development sites to be sold, Osaka 2, Tokyo 12, and Tokyo 14, to the estimated fair value less cost to sell. On December 17, 2020, we closed the Asia-Pacific Joint Venture transaction which included the sale of the three development sites in exchange for $209.8 million of cash proceeds and $15.6 million of receivables. We recognized an insignificant gain on the sale of these xScaleTM data center facilities to the Asia-Pacific Joint Venture. See Note 5 and Note 6 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In May, we issued and sold 2,587,500 shares of common stock in a public offering for net proceeds of approximately $1,683.1 million, after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses. See Note 12 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In June, we issued $2.6 billion in Senior Notes due 2025, 2027, 2030 and 2050. In July, using a portion of the proceeds, we redeemed all of our outstanding €750.0 million 2.875% Senior Notes due 2024 and $1.1 billion 5.875% Senior Notes due 2026. See Note 11 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In August, we entered into an agreement to purchase the India operations of GPX Global Systems, Inc. ("GPX India"), representing two data centers in Mumbai, India, for approximately $161.0 million in an all-cash transaction (the “GPX India Acquisition”). The GPX India Acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2021, subject to customary closing conditions including regulatory approval. See Note 3 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In the fourth quarter, we completed the acquisition of 13 data center sites in Canada, and their operations from Bell, for a total combined purchase consideration of approximately C$931.7 million, or $702.0 million at the exchange rates in effect on the transaction dates. See Note 3 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In October, we issued $1.85 billion in Senior Notes due in 2025, 2028 and 2051. On October 23, 2020, using a portion of the net proceeds, we redeemed all of our outstanding €1.0 billion aggregate principal amount 2.875% Senior Notes due 2025, as well as €0.5 billion of our outstanding €1.0 billion aggregate principal amount 2.875% Senior Notes due 2026. See Note 11 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•In September, we entered into an agreement to sell the Paris 9 ("PA9") data center to the EMEA Joint Venture. The assets and liabilities of the data center, which was included within our EMEA region, were classified as held for sale as of September 30, 2020. The transaction was completed on December 15, 2020 for a total consideration of $131.5 million, which is comprised of net cash proceeds of $124.6 million, a contract asset with a fair value of $5.6 million and an insignificant amount of contingent consideration that is receivable upon completion of certain performance milestones. See Note 5 and Note 6 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

•During 2020, we had sold 415,512 shares of our common stock for approximately $298.3 million in proceeds, net of payment of commissions and other offering expenses under the 2018 ATM Program, reaching the capacity of this program and subsequently closed. In October, we launched a new ATM program, under which we may offer and sell from time to time up to an aggregate of $1.5 billion of our common stock in "at the market" transactions (the "2020 ATM Program"). As of December 31, 2020 we had not sold any shares under the 2020 ATM Program. See Note 12 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

56

Table of Contents

Results of Operations

Our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020 include the results of operations from the acquisitions of 12 data center sites across Canada from Bell from October 1, 2020 and one additional data center acquired from Bell from November 2, 2020, Packet from March 2, 2020 and three data centers in Mexico from Axtel from January 8, 2020. Our results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2019 include the results of operations from the acquisition of the AM11 data center from April 18, 2019 within the EMEA region.

In order to provide a framework for assessing our performance excluding the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, we supplement the year-over-year actual change in results of operations with comparative changes on a constant currency basis. Presenting constant currency results of operations is a non-GAAP financial measure. See “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below for further discussion.

Years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019

Revenues. Our revenues for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 were generated from the following revenue classifications and geographic regions (dollars in thousands):

Years Ended December 31, % Change

Americas:

EMEA:

Asia-Pacific:

Total:

57

Table of Contents

Revenues

(dollars in thousands)

Americas Revenues.During the year ended December 31, 2020, Americas revenue increased by 5% (6% on a constant currency basis). Growth in Americas revenues was primarily due to:

•approximately $78.0 million of incremental revenues from the Bell, Packet, and Axtel acquisitions;

•$21.0 million of incremental revenues generated from our recently-opened IBX data centers or IBX data center expansions; and

•an increase in orders from both our existing customers and new customers during the period.

The increase was partially offset by lower non-recurring revenues, primarily due to decreases in EIS products sales and lower revenues from Smart Hands products in 2020 as we restricted visits to our IBX facilities and waived certain Smart Hands service fees from the affected customers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

EMEA Revenues.During the year ended December 31, 2020, EMEA revenue increased by 11% (12% on a constant currency basis). Growth in EMEA revenues was primarily due to:

•approximately $26.9 million of incremental revenues generated from our recently-opened IBX data centers or IBX data center expansions; and

•an increase in orders from both our existing customers and new customers during the period.

The increase was partially offset by:

•a net decrease of $43.5 million of realized cash flow hedge gains from foreign currency forward contracts.

Asia-Pacific Revenues. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Asia-Pacific revenue increased by 11% (10% on a constant currency basis). Growth in Asia-Pacific revenue was primarily due to:

•approximately $19.8 million of incremental revenues generated from our recently-opened IBX data centers or IBX data center expansions;

•higher non-recurring revenues, primarily due to increases in EIS products sales; and

•an increase in orders from both our existing customers and new customers during the period.

58

Table of Contents

Cost of Revenues. Our cost of revenues for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 were split among the following geographic regions (dollars in thousands):

Years Ended December 31, % Change

Cost of Revenues

(dollars in thousands; percentages indicate expenses as a percentage of revenues)

Americas Cost of Revenues. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Americas cost of revenues increased by 9% (11% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our Americas cost of revenues was primarily due to:

•approximately $64.4 million of incremental cost of revenues from the Bell, Packet, and Axtel acquisitions;

•$9.8 million of higher utilities cost driven by IBX data center expansions and integration, primarily in U.S.;

•$9.6 million of higher compensation costs, including salaries, bonuses and stock-based compensation, primarily due to headcount growth and additional bonuses paid to IBX employees for supporting our business during the COVID-19 pandemic;

•$7.9 million of higher property tax costs driven by IBX data center expansions;

•$5.8 million of higher accretion and depreciation costs driven by IBX data center expansions; and

•$5.2 million of higher consulting services and office expense, primarily due to project integration and additional spending on personal protective equipment for our IBX employees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

EMEA Cost of Revenues. During the year ended December 31, 2020, EMEA cost of revenues increased by 8% (and also 8% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our EMEA cost of revenues was primarily due to:

•$42.8 million of higher depreciation expenses driven by IBX data center expansions in Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, United Arab Emirates, and France;

•$25.9 million of higher compensation costs, including salaries, bonuses and stock-based compensation, primarily due to headcount growth and additional bonuses to IBX employees for supporting our business during the COVID-19 pandemic;

•$17.7 million of higher utilities costs driven by increased utility usage to support IBX data center expansions and utility price increases, primarily in Germany and France;

59

Table of Contents

•$12.3 million of higher consulting services and office expense, primarily due to project integration and additional spending on personal protective equipment for our IBX employees in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and

•$9.4 million of higher rent and facilities costs and repairs and maintenance expense, primarily in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

This increase was partially offset by:

•$15.5 million decrease in realized cash flow hedge losses from foreign currency forward contracts;

•$8.8 million of lower other expenses, as there was a general contractor bankruptcy during the year ended December 31, 2019, which resulted in incremental legal claim charges in the prior year; and

•$8.3 million of net decrease in other cost of revenue, primarily due to lower costs related to decreased EIS revenues in Germany and the United Kingdom.

Asia-Pacific Cost of Revenues. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Asia-Pacific cost of revenues increased by 13% (and also 13% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our Asia-Pacific cost of revenues was primarily due to:

•$42.0 million of higher depreciation expense, primarily from IBX data center expansions in Australia, Singapore, Japan, and Hong Kong;

•$14.6 million of higher utilities costs, primarily driven by expansions and higher utility usage in Hong Kong, Japan, and Singapore;

•$9.0 million of higher costs from increased EIS revenues, primarily in Japan;

•$8.4 million of higher compensation costs, including salaries, bonuses and stock-based compensation, primarily due to headcount growth and additional bonuses to IBX employees for supporting our business during the COVID-19 pandemic;

•$6.6 million of higher taxes, licenses, and insurance, primarily driven by IBX data center expansions in Singapore, Australia, and Japan; and

•$5.3 million of repairs and maintenance, primarily due to increases of maintenance projects in Japan and Australia.

This increase was partially offset by:

•$4.8 million of lower office, rent and facility expenses due to lower computer hardware costs and lower equipment lease activity in Japan.

We expect Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific cost of revenues to increase in line with the growth of our business, including from the impacts of acquisitions.

60

Table of Contents

Sales and Marketing Expenses. Our sales and marketing expenses for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 were split among the following geographic regions (dollars in thousands):

Years ended December 31, % Change

Sales and Marketing Expenses

(dollars in thousands; percentages indicate expenses as a percentage of revenues)

Americas Sales and Marketing Expenses. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Americas sales and marketing expenses increased by 14% (15% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our Americas sales and marketing expenses was primarily due to:

•$42.9 million of higher compensation costs, including sales compensation, salaries and stock-based compensation, partially due to additional compensation expenses incurred related to our recent acquisitions and headcount growth;

•$10.6 million of higher advertising and promotions expenses primarily due to higher spending in online advertising, digital marketing strategies and digital consultancy;

•$5.4 million of higher consulting services primarily due to higher fees and an increase in business deals; and

•$5.1 million of higher amortization expenses related to customer relationship intangibles acquired from our recent acquisitions.

This increase was partially offset by:

•$6.4 million decrease in travel and entertainment expenses resulting from travel restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

EMEA Sales and Marketing Expenses.During the year ended December 31, 2020, EMEA sales and marketing increased by 3% (4% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our EMEA sales and marketing expenses was primarily due to:

•$16.1 million of higher compensation costs, including sales compensation, salaries and stock-based compensation, partially due to additional compensation expenses incurred related to headcount growth.

61

Table of Contents

This increase was partially offset by:

•$4.7 million decrease in amortization expense driven by certain intangibles being fully amortized in the current year;

•$4.1 million decrease in travel and entertainment expenses resulting from travel restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and

•$2.7 million decrease of realized cash flow hedge losses from foreign currency forward contracts.

Asia-Pacific Sales and Marketing Expenses. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Asia-Pacific sales and marketing increased by 7% (6% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our Asia-Pacific sales and marketing expenses was primarily due to:

•$9.8 million increase in compensation costs, including sales compensation, salaries and stock-based compensation and headcount growth.

This increase was partially offset by:

•$3.5 million decrease in travel and entertainment expenses resulting from travel restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We anticipate that we will continue to invest in Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific sales and marketing initiatives and expect our Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific sales and marketing expenses to increase in line with the growth of our business. We also expect travel and entertainment expenses to increase once travel restrictions that were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are reduced. Additionally, given that certain global sales and marketing functions are located within the U.S., we expect Americas sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of revenues to be higher than our other regions.

General and Administrative Expenses. Our general and administrative expenses for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 were split among the following geographic regions (dollars in thousands):

Years Ended December 31, % Change

62

Table of Contents

General and Administrative Expenses

(dollars in thousands; percentages indicate expenses as a percentage of revenues)

Americas General and Administrative Expenses. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Americas general and administrative expenses increased by 22% (23% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our Americas general and administrative expenses was primarily due to:

•$80.3 million of higher compensation costs, including salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation related to recent acquisitions and headcount growth;

•$25.2 million of higher depreciation expense associated with the Axtel and Packet acquisitions and the implementation of certain systems to support the integration and growth of our business;

•$20.2 million of higher consulting expenses in support of our business growth;

•$16.9 million of higher office expenses due to additional computer software, hardware, and support services;

•$4.6 million of higher third party services and other operating expenses due to higher project costs; and

•$3.4 million of higher taxes, licenses, and insurance, primarily due to the Axtel and Packet acquisitions.

This increase was partially offset by:

•$12.1 million net decrease due to lower travel and entertainment expenses resulting from travel restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

EMEA General and Administrative Expenses. During the year ended December 31, 2020, EMEA general and administrative expenses increased by 2% (3% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our EMEA general and administrative expenses was primarily due to:

•$24.4 million of higher compensation costs, including salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, primarily due to headcount growth.

This increase was partially offset by:

•$6.0 million of lower travel and entertainment, resulting from travel restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic;

•$5.5 million of lower other operating expenses, primarily due to the favorable determination of a legal claim;

•$3.4 million of lower consulting expenses primarily related to lower accounting and tax fees; and

•$3.2 million decrease of realized cash flow hedge losses from foreign currency forward contracts.

Asia-Pacific General and Administrative Expenses.During the year ended December 31, 2020, Asia-Pacific general and administrative expenses increased by 11% (and also 11% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our Asia-Pacific general and administrative expense was primarily due to:

63

Table of Contents

•$5.7 million of higher compensation costs, including salaries, bonuses, and stock-based compensation, primarily due to headcount growth;

•$3.8 million of higher rent and facility costs, primarily due to additional rent expenses in Singapore; and

•$3.5 million of higher office and consulting costs, primarily due to increase in hardware, software, supplies and fees resulting from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This increase was partially offset by:

•$3.6 million of lower travel and entertainment expenses resulting from travel restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Going forward, although we are carefully monitoring our spending, we expect Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific general and administrative expenses to increase as we continue to further scale our operations to support our growth, including investments in our back office systems and investments to maintain our qualification for taxation as a REIT and to integrate recent acquisitions. We also expect travel and entertainment expenses to increase once travel restrictions that were imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are reduced. Additionally, given that our corporate headquarters is located within the U.S., we expect Americas general and administrative expenses as a percentage of revenues to continue to be higher than our other regions.

Transaction Costs. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recorded transaction costs totaling $55.9 million primarily related to costs incurred in connection with the acquisitions of Bell, Packet, and Axtel, as well as the costs incurred in connection with the formation of the Asia-Pacific Joint Venture. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we recorded transaction costs totaling $24.8 million, primarily related to costs incurred in connection with the formation of the new EMEA Joint Venture.

Impairment Charges. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recorded impairment charges totaling $7.3 million in the Asia-Pacific region as a result of the fair value adjustment of the Asia-Pacific Joint venture xScaleTM data centers, which were classified as held for sale assets before they were sold on December 17, 2020. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we recorded impairment charges totaling $15.8 million in the Americas region primarily as a result of the fair value adjustment for the New York 12 ("NY12") data center, which was classified as a held for sale asset before it was sold in October 2019.

Gain on Asset Sales. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we did not record a significant amount of gain on asset sales. During the year ended December 31, 2019, we recorded gain on asset sales of $44.3 million primarily relating to the sale of both the London 10 and Paris 8 data centers, as well as certain construction development and leases in London and Frankfurt, as part of the closing of the EMEA Joint Venture.

Income from Operations. Our income from operations for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 was split among the following geographic regions (dollars in thousands):

Years Ended December 31, % Change

Americas Income from Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Americas income from operations decreased by 57% (54% on a constant currency basis). The decrease in our Americas income from operations was primarily due to higher operating expenses as a percentage of revenues and higher transaction costs in connection with the recent acquisitions. Namely, a large increase in general and administrative expenses was primarily driven by higher compensation costs and consulting expenses, which were in part related to recent acquisitions, higher office expenses and depreciation expense, and payments made in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

EMEA Income from Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2020, EMEA income from operations increased by 26% (32% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our EMEA income from operations was

64

Table of Contents

primarily due to higher revenues as a result of our IBX data center expansion activity and organic growth, as described above, as well as lower operating expenses as a percentage of revenues.

Asia-Pacific Income from Operations. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Asia-Pacific income from operations increased by 3% (5% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our Asia-Pacific income from operations was primarily due to higher revenues as a result of our IBX data center expansion activity, acquisition and organic growth as described above.

Interest Income. Interest income was $8.7 million and $27.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. The average yield for the year ended December 31, 2020 was 0.43% versus 1.85% for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Interest Expense. Interest expense decreased to $406.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2020 from $479.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, primarily attributable to the redemption of legacy high yield Senior Notes due 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2026, partially offset by the issuance of new Senior Notes due 2025, 2027, 2028, 2030, 2050 and 2051. Due to the issuance and redemption of debt for the year ended December 31, 2020, the effective interest rate decreased from December 31, 2019. During the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we capitalized $26.8 million and $32.2 million, respectively, of interest expense to construction in progress.

Other Income. We recorded net other income of $6.9 million and $27.8 million for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Other income is primarily comprised of foreign currency exchange gains and losses during the periods.

Loss on Debt Extinguishment. During the year ended December 31, 2020, we recorded $145.8 million of loss on debt extinguishment primarily related to the redemption of the Senior Notes due 2022, 2024, 2025, and 2026.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, we recorded $52.8 million of loss on debt extinguishment primarily related to the redemption of the Senior Notes due 2022, 2023 and 2025.

Income Taxes We operate as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes. As a REIT, we are generally not subject to U.S. federal income taxes on our taxable income distributed to stockholders. We intend to distribute or have distributed the entire taxable income generated by the operations of our REIT and QRSs for the tax years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, respectively. As such, other than tax attributable to built-in-gains recognized, state income taxes, and foreign income and withholding taxes, no provision for income taxes has been included for the REIT and its QRSs in the accompanying consolidated financial statements for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

We have made TRS elections for some of our subsidiaries in and outside the U.S. In general, a TRS may provide services that would otherwise be considered impermissible for REITs to provide and may hold assets that may not be REIT compliant.

U.S. income taxes for the TRS entities located in the U.S. and foreign income taxes for our foreign operations regardless of whether the foreign operations are operated as QRSs or TRSs have been accrued, as necessary, for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

For the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019, we recorded $146.2 million and $185.4 million of income tax expenses, respectively. Our effective tax rates were 28.3% and 26.8%, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019.

Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA is a key factor in how we assess the operating performance of our segments and develop regional growth strategies such as IBX data center expansion decisions. We define adjusted EBITDA as income or loss from operations excluding depreciation, amortization, accretion, stock-based compensation expense, restructuring charges, impairment charges, transaction costs and gain on asset sales. See "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below for more information about adjusted EBITDA and a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to income or loss from operations. Our adjusted EBITDA for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2019 was split among the following geographic regions (dollars in thousands):

65

Table of Contents

Years Ended December 31, % Change

Americas Adjusted EBITDA.During the year ended December 31, 2020, Americas adjusted EBITDA decreased by 4% (3% on a constant currency basis). The decrease in our Americas adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to the increase in compensation expenses, consulting expenses and office expenses.

EMEA Adjusted EBITDA. During the year ended December 31, 2020, EMEA adjusted EBITDA increased by 18% (19% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our EMEA adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to higher revenues as a result of our IBX data center expansion activity and organic growth, as described above.

Asia-Pacific Adjusted EBITDA. During the year ended December 31, 2020, Asia-Pacific adjusted EBITDA increased by 11% (and also 11% on a constant currency basis). The increase in our Asia-Pacific adjusted EBITDA was primarily due to higher revenues as a result of our IBX data center expansion activity and organic growth as described above.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We provide all information required in accordance with GAAP, but we believe that evaluating our ongoing operating results may be difficult if limited to reviewing only GAAP financial measures. Accordingly, we use non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate our operations.

Non-GAAP financial measures are not a substitute for financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation, but should be considered together with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures. We have presented such non-GAAP financial measures to provide investors with an additional tool to evaluate our results of operations in a manner that focuses on what management believes to be our core, ongoing business operations. We believe that the inclusion of these non-GAAP financial measures provides consistency and comparability with past reports and provides a better understanding of the overall performance of the business and ability to perform in subsequent periods. We believe that if we did not provide such non-GAAP financial information, investors would not have all the necessary data to analyze Equinix effectively.

Investors should note that the non-GAAP financial measures used by us may not be the same non-GAAP financial measures, and may not be calculated in the same manner, as those of other companies. Investors should therefore exercise caution when comparing non-GAAP financial measures used by us to similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures of other companies.

Our primary non-GAAP financial measures, adjusted EBITDA and adjusted funds from operations ("AFFO"), exclude depreciation expense as these charges primarily relate to the initial construction costs of our IBX data centers and do not reflect our current or future cash spending levels to support our business. Our IBX data centers are long-lived assets and have an economic life greater than 10 years. The construction costs of an IBX data center do not recur with respect to such data center, although we may incur initial construction costs in future periods with respect to additional IBX data centers, and future capital expenditures remain minor relative to our initial investment. This is a trend we expect to continue. In addition, depreciation is also based on the estimated useful lives of our IBX data centers. These estimates could vary from actual performance of the asset, are based on historical costs incurred to build out our IBX data centers and are not indicative of current or expected future capital expenditures. Therefore, we exclude depreciation from our results of operations when evaluating our operations.

66

Table of Contents

In addition, in presenting adjusted EBITDA and AFFO, we exclude amortization expense related to acquired intangible assets. Amortization expense is significantly affected by the timing and magnitude of our acquisitions and these charges may vary in amount from period to period. We exclude amortization expense to facilitate a more meaningful evaluation of our current operating performance and comparisons to our prior periods. We exclude accretion expense, both as it relates to asset retirement obligations as well as accrued restructuring charge liabilities, as these expenses represent costs which we believe are not meaningful in evaluating our current operations. We exclude stock-based compensation expense, as it can vary significantly from period to period based on share price, the timing, size and nature of equity awards. As such, we, and many investors and analysts, exclude stock-based compensation expense to compare our results of operations with those of other companies. We also exclude restructuring charges. The restructuring charges relate to our decisions to exit leases for excess space adjacent to several of our IBX data centers, which we did not intend to build out, or our decision to reverse such restructuring charges. We also exclude impairment charges related to certain long-lived assets. The impairment charges are related to expense recognized whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of long-lived assets are not recoverable. We also exclude gain or loss on asset sales as it represents profit or loss that is not meaningful in evaluating the current or future operating performance. Finally, we exclude transaction costs from AFFO and adjusted EBITDA to allow more comparable comparisons of our financial results to our historical operations. The transaction costs relate to costs we incur in connection with business combinations and the formation of joint ventures, including advisory, legal, accounting, valuation, and other professional or consulting fees. Such charges generally are not relevant to assessing the long-term performance of the company. In addition, the frequency and amount of such charges vary significantly based on the size and timing of the transactions. Management believes items such as restructuring charges, impairment charges, gain or loss on asset sales and transaction costs are non-core transactions; however, these types of costs may occur in future periods.

Adjusted EBITDA

The following table shows the reconciliation from income from operations to adjusted EBITDA (in thousands):

Years Ended December 31,

Our adjusted EBITDA results have improved each year in the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions in total dollars due to the improved operating results discussed earlier in "Results of Operations", as well as the nature of our business model consisting of a recurring revenue stream. The increases in adjusted EBITDA results for the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions were partially offset by the decrease in the AMER region, as noted above.

Funds from Operations ("FFO") and AFFO

We use FFO and AFFO, which are non-GAAP financial measures commonly used in the REIT industry. FFO is calculated in accordance with the standards established by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts. FFO represents net income (loss), excluding gain (loss) from the disposition of real estate assets, depreciation and amortization on real estate assets and adjustments for unconsolidated joint ventures' and non-controlling interests' share of these items.

In presenting AFFO, we exclude certain items that we believe are not good indicators of our current or future operating performance. AFFO represents FFO excluding depreciation and amortization expense on non-real estate assets, accretion, stock-based compensation, restructuring charges, impairment charges, transaction costs, an installation revenue adjustment, a straight-line rent expense adjustment, a contract cost adjustment, amortization of deferred financing costs and debt discounts and premiums, gain (loss) on debt extinguishment, an income tax expense adjustment, recurring capital expenditures, net income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax, and adjustments from FFO to AFFO for unconsolidated joint ventures' and noncontrolling interests' share of these items. The adjustments for installation revenue, straight-line rent expense and contract costs are intended to isolate the

67

Table of Contents

cash activity included within the straight-lined or amortized results in the consolidated statement of operations. We exclude the amortization of deferred financing costs and debt discounts and premiums as these expenses relate to the initial costs incurred in connection with debt financings that have no current or future cash obligations. We exclude gain (loss) on debt extinguishment since it generally represents the write-off of initial costs incurred in connection with debt financings or a cost that is incurred to reduce future interest costs and is not a good indicator of our current or future operating performance. We include an income tax expense adjustment, which represents the non-cash tax impact due to changes in valuation allowances, uncertain tax positions and deferred taxes that do not relate to current period's operations. We deduct recurring capital expenditures, which represent expenditures to extend the useful life of its IBX data centers or other assets that are required to support current revenues. We also exclude net income (loss) from discontinued operations, net of tax, which represents results that may not recur and are not a good indicator of our current future operating performance.

Our FFO and AFFO were as follows (in thousands):

Years Ended December 31,

Net gain (loss) attributable to non-controlling interests (297) 205 —

Adjustments:

(Gain) loss on disposition of real estate property 4,063 (39,337) 4,643

Adjustments for FFO from unconsolidated joint ventures 2,726 645 —

Years Ended December 31,

Adjustments:

Adjustments for AFFO from unconsolidated joint ventures 2,195 2,080 —

Our AFFO results have improved due to the improved operating results discussed earlier in "Results of Operations," as well as due to the nature of our business model which consists of a recurring revenue stream and a cost structure which has a large base that is fixed in nature as discussed earlier in "Overview."

68

Table of Contents

Constant Currency Presentation

Our revenues and certain operating expenses (cost of revenues, sales and marketing and general and administrative expenses) from our international operations have represented and will continue to represent a significant portion of our total revenues and certain operating expenses. As a result, our revenues and certain operating expenses have been and will continue to be affected by changes in the U.S. dollar against major international currencies. During the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019, the U.S. dollar was stronger relative to the Brazilian real, Singapore dollar and Australian dollar, which resulted in an unfavorable foreign currency impact on revenue, operating income and adjusted EBITDA, and a favorable foreign currency impact on operating expenses. During the year ended December 31, 2020 as compared to the same period in 2019, the U.S. dollar was weaker relative to the Japanese yen, Hong Kong dollar, Euro, and British pound, which resulted in a favorable foreign currency impact on revenue, operating income and adjusted EBITDA, and an unfavorable foreign currency impact on operating expenses. In order to provide a framework for assessing how each of our business segments performed excluding the impact of foreign currency fluctuations, we present period-over-period percentage changes in our revenues and certain operating expenses on a constant currency basis in addition to the historical amounts as reported. Our constant currency presentation excludes the impact of our foreign currency cash flow hedging activities. Presenting constant currency results of operations is a non-GAAP financial measure and is not meant to be considered in isolation or as an alternative to GAAP results of operations. However, we have presented this non-GAAP financial measure to provide investors with an additional tool to evaluate our results of operations. To present this information, our current period revenues and certain operating expenses from entities reporting in currencies other than the U.S. dollar are converted into U.S. dollars at constant exchange rates rather than the actual exchange rates in effect during the respective periods (i.e. average rates in effect for the year ended December 31, 2019 are used as exchange rates for the year ended December 31, 2020 when comparing the year ended December 31, 2020 with the year ended December 31, 2019).

Liquidity and Capital Resources

As of December 31, 2020, our total indebtedness was comprised of debt and lease obligations totaling approximately $12.6 billion (gross of debt issuance cost, debt discount, plus mortgage premium) consisting of:

•approximately $9.3 billion of principal from our senior notes;

•approximately $1.9 billion from our finance lease liabilities; and

•$1.4 billion of principal from our loans payable and mortgage.

During 2020, we completed the following significant financing activities:

•issued and sold 415,512 shares of common stock under our ATM Program, for proceeds of approximately $298.3 million, net of payment of commissions and other offering expenses;

•issued and sold 2,587,500 shares of common stock for net proceeds of approximately $1.7 billion;

•borrowed and repaid $0.8 billion under our revolving credit facility and the 364-day term loan facilities; and

•issued $4.4 billion of our Senior Notes, net of debt discounts, and repaid $4.1 billion of legacy high yield Senior Notes and $300.0 million of Infomart Senior Notes.

As of December 31, 2020, we had $1.6 billion of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. In addition to our cash and investment portfolio, we had $1.9 billion of additional liquidity available to us from our $2.0 billion revolving facility and general access to both public and private debt and the equity capital markets. We also have additional liquidity available to us from our ATM programs, under which we may offer and sell from time to time our common stock in "at the market" transactions. As of December 31, 2020, we had completed sales under the ATM program that was previously launched in December 2018. On October 30, 2020, we launched a new ATM program allowing for aggregate sales of up to $1.5 billion (the "2020 ATM Program"). No sales have been made under the 2020 ATM Program to date.

Besides any further financing activity we may pursue, customer collections are our primary source of cash. We believe we have a strong customer base, and have continued to experience relatively strong collections. We believe we have sufficient cash, coupled with anticipated cash generated from operating activities and external financing sources, to meet our operating requirements, including repayment of the current portion of our debt as it becomes due, distribution of dividends and completion of our publicly-announced acquisition and expansion projects. We also believe that our financial resources will allow us to manage future possible impact of the ongoing COVID-19

69

Table of Contents

pandemic on our business operations for the foreseeable future, which could include reductions in revenue and delays in payments from customers and partners.

As we continue to grow, we may pursue additional expansion opportunities, primarily the build out of new IBX data centers, in certain of our existing markets which are at or near capacity within the next year, as well as potential acquisitions and joint ventures. We may elect to access the equity or debt markets from time to time opportunistically, particularly if financing is available on attractive terms. We will continue to evaluate our operating requirements and financial resources in light of future developments, including those relating to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Sources and Uses of Cash

Years Ended December 31,

(in thousands)

Operating Activities

Our cash provided by our operations is generated by colocation, interconnection, managed infrastructure and other revenues. Our primary uses of cash from our operating activities include compensation and related costs, interest payments, other general corporate expenditures and taxes. The increase in net cash provided by operating activities during 2020 compared to 2019 was primarily due to improved results of operations offset by increases in cash paid for cost of revenues and operating expenses.

Investing Activities

The net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 was primarily due to capital expenditures of $2.3 billion as a result of our expansion activity, purchases of real estate of $200.2 million, business acquisitions of Bell, Packet and Axtel for $1.2 billion, and purchases of investments of $127.8 million, partially offset by proceeds from the sale of assets to the Asia-Pacific and EMEA Joint Ventures of $334.4 million and proceeds from sales of investments of $29.4 million. The net cash used in investing activities for the year ended December 31, 2019 was primarily due to capital expenditures of $2.1 billion as a result of our expansion activity, purchases of real estate of $169.2 million, the AM11 data center acquisition of $34.1 million, and purchases of investments of $60.9 million, partially offset by proceeds from the sale of assets, primarily due to the sale of assets to the EMEA Joint Venture, of $358.8 million and proceeds from sales of investments of $40.4 million.

We anticipate our IBX data center expansion construction activity will be similar or increase from our 2020 levels. If the opportunity to expand is greater than planned and we have sufficient funding to pursue such expansion opportunities, we may further increase the level of capital expenditure to support this growth as well as pursue additional business and real estate acquisitions or joint ventures.

Financing Activities

Net cash provided by financing activities during 2020 was primarily due to:

•the issuance of $4.4 billion in Senior Notes due 2025, 2027, 2028, 2030, 2050 and 2051;

•the sale and issuance of 2,587,500 shares of common stock in a public offering for net proceeds of approximately $1.7 billion, net of underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses;

•borrowings under the revolving credit facility of $250.0 million and the 364-Day term loan facilities of $500.8 million;

•the sale of 415,512 shares of common stock under the ATM Program, for net proceeds of $298.3 million; and

•proceeds from employee awards of $62.1 million.

The proceeds were partially offset by:

70

Table of Contents

•the redemption of $4.1 billion in Senior Notes due 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026;

•the repayment of $300.0 million of 5.0% Infomart Senior Notes according to the repayment terms;

•dividend distributions of $947.9 million;

•repayments of finance lease liabilities totaling $115.3 million;

•repayments of mortgage and loans payable totaling $829.5 million, primarily from the repayments of the revolving credit facility and the 364-Day term loan facilities;

•payments of debt extinguishment costs of $111.7 million, primarily related to redemption premium paid to redeem legacy high yield Senior Notes due 2022, 2024, 2025 and 2026; and

•payments of debt issuance costs of $42.2 million.

Net cash provided by financing activities during 2019 was primarily due to:

•the issuance of $2.8 billion in Senior Notes due 2024, 2026 and 2029;

•the sale and issuance of 2,985,575 shares of common stock in a public equity offering and receipt of net proceeds of approximately $1.2 billion, net of underwriting discounts, commissions and offering expenses;

•the sale of 903,555 shares under our ATM Program, for net proceeds of $447.5 million; and

•proceeds from employee awards of $52.0 million.

The proceeds were partially offset by:

•the redemption of $1.9 billion in Senior Notes due 2022, 2023 and 2025;

•the repayment of $300.0 million of 5.0% Infomart Senior Notes according to the repayment terms;

•dividend distributions of $836.2 million;

•repayments of finance lease liabilities of $126.5 million;

•repayments of mortgage and loans payable of $73.2 million;

•payments of debt extinguishment costs of $43.3 million, primarily related to redemption premium paid to redeem Senior Notes due 2022, 2023 and 2025; and

•payments of debt issuance costs of $23.3 million.

Contractual Obligations and Off-Balance-Sheet Arrangements

We lease a majority of our IBX data centers and certain equipment under long-term lease agreements. The following represents our debt maturities, financings, leases and other contractual commitments as of December 31, 2020 (in thousands):

(1)Represents principal and unamortized mortgage premium only.

(2)Represents interest on mortgage payable, loans payable, senior notes and term loans based on their respective interest rates as of December 31, 2020, as well as the credit facility fee for the revolving credit facility.

(3)Represents lease payments under finance and operating lease arrangements, including renewal options that are certain to be exercised.

(4)Represents off-balance sheet arrangements. Other contractual commitments are described below.

71

Table of Contents

(5)Represents liability, net of future accretion expense.

As of December 31, 2020, we were contractually committed for $1.1 billion of unaccrued capital expenditures, primarily for IBX equipment not yet delivered and labor not yet provided in connection with the work necessary to complete construction and open IBX data center expansion projects prior to making them available to customers for installation. This amount, which is expected to be paid during 2021 and thereafter, is reflected in the table above as "other contractual commitments."

We had other non-capital purchase commitments in place as of December 31, 2020, such as commitments to purchase power in select locations and other open purchase orders, which contractually bind us for goods, services or arrangements to be delivered or provided during 2021 and beyond. Such other purchase commitments as of December 31, 2020, which total $1.3 billion, are also reflected in the table above as "other contractual commitments."

Other commitments

In connection with certain of our leases and other contracts requiring deposits, we entered into 37 irrevocable letters of credit totaling $74.6 million under the revolving credit facility. These letters of credit were provided in lieu of cash deposits. If the landlords for these IBX leases decide to draw down on these letters of credit triggered by an event of default under the lease, we will be required to fund these letters of credit either through cash collateral or borrowing under the revolving credit facility. These contingent commitments are not reflected in the table above.

We had accrued liabilities related to uncertain tax positions totaling approximately $169.7 million as of December 31, 2020. These liabilities, which are reflected on our balance sheet, are not reflected in the table above since it is unclear when these liabilities will be paid.

In connection with the EMEA Joint Venture which closed in October 2019, we committed to make future equity contributions to the EMEA Joint Venture of €13.8 million and £6.6 million, or $25.8 million in total at the exchange rate in effect on December 31, 2020, to fund the EMEA Joint Venture’s future development until 2022, which are not reflected in the table above.

In connection with the sale of the PA9 data center, which closed in December 2020, we also has a commitment to the EMEA Joint Venture to complete a residual portion of the PA9 center for an estimated cost of €14.5 million or $17.7 million in total at the exchange rate in effect on December 31, 2020, which is reimbursable upon completion and is not reflected in the table above.

We also committed to make future equity contributions to the Asia-Pacific Joint Venture, which was closed on December 17, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, we had future equity contribution commitments of ¥6.3 billion, or $60.7 million in total at the exchange rate in effect on December 31, 2020, which is not reflected in the table above.

Additionally, we entered into lease agreements with various landlords primarily for data center spaces and ground leases which have not yet commenced as of December 31, 2020. These leases will commence between fiscal years 2021 and 2022 with lease terms of 10 to 49 years and a total lease commitment of approximately $684.1 million, which is not reflected in the table above.

Other Off-Balance-Sheet Arrangements

We have various guarantor arrangements with both our directors and officers and third parties, including customers, vendors and business partners. As of December 31, 2020, there were no significant liabilities recorded for these arrangements. For additional information, see "Guarantor Arrangements" in Note 15 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The preparation of our financial statements requires management to make estimates and assumptions about future events that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. On an ongoing basis, management evaluates the accounting policies, assumptions, estimates and judgments to ensure that our consolidated financial statements are presented fairly and in accordance with GAAP. Management bases its

72

Table of Contents

assumptions, estimates and judgments on historical experience, current trends and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. However, because future events and their effects cannot be determined with certainty, actual results may differ from these assumptions and estimates, and such differences could be material.

Our significant accounting policies are discussed in Note 1 to Consolidated Financial Statements in Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Management believes that the following accounting policies and estimates are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our consolidated financial statements, and they require significant judgments, resulting from the need to make estimates about the effect of matters that are inherently uncertain:

• Accounting for income taxes;

• Accounting for business combinations;

• Accounting for impairment of goodwill;

• Accounting for property, plant and equipment; and

• Accounting for leases.

73

Table of Contents

74

Table of Contents

75

Table of Contents

76

Table of Contents

Recent Accounting Pronouncements

See "Recent Accounting Pronouncements" in Note 1 within the Consolidated Financial Statements.

77

Table of Contents

ITEM 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk

Market Risk

The following discussion about market risk involves forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. We may be exposed to market risks related to changes in interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates and fluctuations in the prices of certain commodities, primarily electricity.

The uncertainty that exists with respect to the economic impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic introduced significant volatility in the financial markets. See Part I, Item 1A. Risk Factors for additional information regarding potential risks to our business, financial condition and results of operations related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

We employ foreign currency forward and option contracts, cross-currency interest rate swaps and interest rate locks for the purpose of hedging certain specifically identified exposures. The use of these financial instruments is intended to mitigate some of the risks associated with fluctuations in currency exchange and interest rates, but does not eliminate such risks. We do not use financial instruments for trading or speculative purposes.

Investment Portfolio Risk

We maintain an investment portfolio of various holdings, types, and maturities that is prioritized on meeting REIT asset requirements. All of our marketable securities are recorded on our consolidated balance sheets at fair value with changes in fair values recognized in net income. We consider various factors in determining whether we should recognize an impairment charge for our securities, including the length of time and extent to which the fair value has been less than our cost basis and our intent and ability to hold the investment for a period of time sufficient to allow for any anticipated recovery. We anticipate that we will recover the entire cost basis of these securities and have determined that no other-than-temporary impairments associated with credit losses were required to be recognized during the year ended December 31, 2020.

As of December 31, 2020, our investment portfolio of cash equivalents and marketable securities consisted of money market funds, certificates of deposits and publicly traded equity securities. The amount in our investment portfolio that could be susceptible to market risk totaled $615.6 million.

Interest Rate Risk

We are exposed to interest rate risk related to our outstanding debt. An immediate 10% increase or decrease in current interest rates from their position as of December 31, 2020 would not have a material impact on our interest expense due to the fixed coupon rate on the majority of our debt obligations. However, the interest expense associated with our senior credit facility and term loans, that bear interest at variable rates, could be affected. For every 100 basis point change in interest rates, our annual interest expense could increase by a total of approximately $10.9 million or decrease by a total of approximately $0.2 million based on the total balance of our primary borrowings under the Term Loan Facility as of December 31, 2020. As of December 31, 2020, we had no outstanding interest rate derivative hedges against our debt obligations. However, we may enter into interest rate hedging agreements in the future to mitigate our exposure to interest rate risk.

The fair value of our long-term fixed interest rate debt is subject to interest rate risk. Generally, the fair value of fixed interest rate debt will increase as interest rates fall and decrease as interest rates rise. These interest rate changes may affect the fair value of the fixed interest rate debt but do not impact our earnings or cash flows. The fair value of our mortgage and loans payable and 5.000% Infomart Senior Notes, which are not traded in the market, is estimated by considering our credit rating, current rates available to us for debt of the same remaining maturities and the terms of the debt. The fair value of our other senior notes, which are traded in the market, was based on quoted market prices. The following table represents the carrying value and estimated fair value of our mortgage and loans payable and senior notes as of (in thousands):

78

Table of Contents

Carrying Value (1) Fair Value Carrying Value (1) Fair Value

(1)The carrying value is gross of debt issuance cost, debt discount and debt premium.

Foreign Currency Risk

A significant portion of our revenue is denominated in U.S. dollars, however, approximately 59% of our revenues and 53% of our operating costs are attributable to Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Colombia and the EMEA and Asia-Pacific regions, and a large portion of those revenues and costs are denominated in a currency other than the U.S. dollar, primarily the Euro, British pound, Japanese yen, Singapore dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Australian dollar and Brazilian real. To help manage the exposure to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, we have implemented a number of hedging programs, in particular:

•a cash flow hedging program to hedge the forecasted revenues and expenses in our EMEA region;

•a balance sheet hedging program to hedge the remeasurement of monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies; and

•a net investment hedging program to hedge the long term investments in our foreign subsidiaries.

Our hedging programs reduce, but do not entirely eliminate, the impact of currency exchange rate movements on our consolidated balance sheets, statements of operations and statements of cash flows.

We have entered into various foreign currency debt obligations. As of December 31, 2020, the total principal amount of foreign currency debt obligations was $1.9 billion, including $611.1 million denominated in Euro, $589.7 million denominated in British Pound, $408.5 million denominated in Japanese Yen and $293.9 million denominated in Swedish Krona. As of December 31, 2020, we have designated $1.9 billion of the total principal amount of foreign currency debt obligations as net investment hedges against our net investments in foreign subsidiaries. For a net investment hedge, changes in the fair value of the hedging instrument designated as a net investment hedge are recorded as a component of other comprehensive income (loss) in the consolidated balance sheets. Fluctuations in the exchange rates between these foreign currencies and the U.S. Dollar will impact the amount of U.S. Dollars that we will require to settle the foreign currency debt obligations at maturity. If the U.S. Dollar would have been weaker or stronger by 10% in comparison to these foreign currencies as of December 31, 2020, we estimate our obligation to cash settle the principal of these foreign currency debt obligations in U.S. Dollars would have increased or decreased by approximately $211.5 million and $173.0 million, respectively.

We also entered into cross-currency interest rate swaps where we receive a fixed amount of U.S. Dollars and pay a fixed amount of Euros. As of December 31, 2020 and 2019, the total notional amounts of U.S. Dollar to Euro cross-currency interest rate swap contracts were $3.3 billion and $750.0 million, respectively. The cross-currency interest rate swaps are designated as hedges of our net investment in European operations and changes in the fair value of these swaps are recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) in the consolidated balance sheet. If the U.S. Dollar weakened or strengthened by 10% in comparison to Euro, we would have recorded an additional loss of $409.6 million or gain of $337.3 million, respectively, within accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) as of December 31, 2020.

The U.S. Dollar weakened relative to certain of the currencies of the foreign countries in which we operate during the year ended December 31, 2020. This has impacted our consolidated financial position and results of operations during this period, including the amount of revenues that we reported. Continued strengthening or weakening of the U.S. Dollar will continue to impact us in future periods.

With the existing cash flow hedges in place, a hypothetical additional 10% strengthening of the U.S. dollar during the year ended December 31, 2020 would have resulted in a reduction of our revenues and operating expenses, including depreciation and amortization expenses, by approximately $171.1 million and $169.7 million, respectively.

79

Table of Contents

With the existing cash flow hedges in place, a hypothetical additional 10% weakening of the U.S. dollar during the year ended December 31, 2020 would have resulted in an increase of our revenues and operating expenses, including depreciation and amortization expenses, by approximately $209.2 million and $207.4 million, respectively.

We may enter into additional hedging activities in the future to mitigate our exposure to foreign currency risk as our exposure to foreign currency risk continues to increase due to our growing foreign operations; however, we do not currently intend to eliminate all foreign currency transaction exposure.

Commodity Price Risk

Certain operating costs incurred by us are subject to price fluctuations caused by the volatility of underlying commodity prices. The commodities most likely to have an impact on our results of operations in the event of price changes are electricity, supplies and equipment used in our IBX data centers. We closely monitor the cost of electricity at all of our locations. We have entered into several power contracts to purchase power at fixed prices in certain locations in the Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the U.S..

In addition, as we are building new, or expanding existing, IBX data centers, we are subject to commodity price risk for building materials related to the construction of these IBX data centers, such as steel and copper. In addition, the lead-time to procure certain pieces of equipment, such as generators, is substantial. Any delays in procuring the necessary pieces of equipment for the construction of our IBX data centers could delay the anticipated openings of these new IBX data centers and, as a result, increase the cost of these projects.

We do not currently employ forward contracts or other financial instruments to address commodity price risk other than the power contracts discussed above.

ITEM 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data

The financial statements and supplementary data required by this Item 8 are listed in Item 15(a)(1) and begin at page F-1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

ITEM 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure

There is no disclosure to report pursuant to Item 9.

ITEM 9A. Controls and Procedures

Conclusion Regarding the Effectiveness of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures, as such term is defined under Rule 13a-15(e) promulgated under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act"). Based on this evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective at the reasonable assurance level as of December 31, 2020.

Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting, as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f). Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission.

80

Table of Contents

Based on our evaluation under the framework in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013), our management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2020.

The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020 has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which is included herein on page F-1 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls

Our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, believes that our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting are designed and operated to be effective at the reasonable assurance level. However, our management does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control system are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been detected. These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision making can be faulty, and that breakdowns can occur because of a simple error or mistake. Additionally, controls can be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is also based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions; over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

There was no change in our internal controls over financial reporting during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 that has materially affected, or is reasonable likely to affect, our internal controls over financial reporting.

ITEM 9B. Other Information

There is no disclosure to report pursuant to Item 9B.

PART III

ITEM 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the definitive Proxy Statement for our 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the SEC no later than 120 days after December 31, 2020 pursuant to Regulation 14A.

We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable for the Chief Executive Officer and Senior Financial Officers and a Code of Business Conduct, which are both "Code(s) of Ethics for Senior Financial Officers" as defined by applicable rules of the SEC. This information is incorporated by reference to the Equinix proxy statement for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and is also available on our website, www.equinix.com.

ITEM 11. Executive Compensation

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the definitive Proxy Statement for our 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the SEC no later than 120 days after December 31, 2020 pursuant to Regulation 14A.

81

Table of Contents

ITEM 12. Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters

Information required by this item is incorporated by reference to the Equinix proxy statement for the 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders.

ITEM 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the definitive Proxy Statement for our 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the SEC no later than 120 days after December 31, 2020 pursuant to Regulation 14A.

ITEM 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services

The information required by this Item is incorporated by reference to the definitive Proxy Statement for our 2021 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which will be filed with the SEC no later than 120 days after December 31, 2020 pursuant to Regulation 14A.

82

Table of Contents

PART IV

ITEM 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules

(a)(1) Financial Statements:

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm F-1

Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2020 and 2019 F-4

Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements F-10

(a)(2) Financial statements and schedule:

(a)(3) Exhibits:

Incorporated by Reference

83

Table of Contents

Incorporated by Reference

3.6 Amended and Restated Bylaws of the Registrant. 8-K 3/29/2016 3.1

4.10 Form of 5.00% Senior Notes due October 2020 (see Exhibit 4.10).

4.11 Form of 5.00% Senior Notes due April 2021 (see Exhibit 4.10).

84

Table of Contents

Incorporated by Reference

4.33 Description of Securities. X

85

Table of Contents

Incorporated by Reference

86

Table of Contents

Incorporated by Reference

87

Table of Contents

Incorporated by Reference

21.1 Subsidiaries of Equinix, Inc. X

88

Table of Contents

Incorporated by Reference

101.SCH Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document. X

101.CAL Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document. X

101.DEF Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document. X

101.LAB Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document. X

101.PRE Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document. X

** Management contracts or compensation plans or arrangements in which directors or executive officers are eligible to participate.

(b)Exhibits.

See (a) (3) above.

(c)Financial Statement Schedule.

See (a) (2) above.

ITEM 16. Form 10-K Summary

Not applicable.

89

Table of Contents

Signatures

Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Annual Report on Form 10-K to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized.

EQUINIX, INC.(Registrant)

February 19, 2021 By /s/ CHARLES MEYERS

Charles Meyers

Chief Executive Officer and President

Power of Attorney

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Charles Meyers or Keith D. Taylor, or either of them, each with the power of substitution, their attorney-in-fact, to sign any amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K (including post-effective amendments), and to file the same, with exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, hereby ratifying and confirming all that each of said attorneys-in-fact, or their substitute or substitutes, may do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

90

Table of Contents

Signature Title Date

Charles Meyers

Keith D. Taylor

Simon Miller

/s/ PETER F. VAN CAMP Executive Chairman February 19, 2021

Peter F. Van Camp

/s/ THOMAS A. BARTLETT Director February 19, 2021

Thomas A. Bartlett

/s/ NANCI CALDWELL Director February 19, 2021

Nanci Caldwell

/s/ ADAIRE FOX-MARTIN Director February 19, 2021

Adaire Fox-Martin

/s/ GARY F. HROMADKO Director February 19, 2021

Gary F. Hromadko

/s/ WILLIAM K. LUBY Director February 19, 2021

William K. Luby

/s/ IRVING F. LYONS, III Director February 19, 2021

Irving F. Lyons, III

/s/ CHRISTOPHER B. PAISLEY Director February 19, 2021

Christopher B. Paisley

Director

Sandra Rivera

91

Table of Contents

Index to Exhibits

ExhibitNumber Description of Document

4.33 Description of Securities

21.1 Subsidiaries of Equinix, Inc.

101.SCH Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document.

101.CAL Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Document.

101.DEF Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Document.

101.LAB Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Labels Document.

101. PRE Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Document.

** Management contracts or compensation plans or arrangements in which directors or executive officers are eligible to participate.

92

Table of Contents

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of Equinix, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Equinix, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the related consolidated statements of operations, of comprehensive income (loss), of stockholders' equity and other comprehensive income (loss) and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2020, including the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the index appearing under Item 15(a)(2) (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2020 and 2019, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2020 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2020, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.

Changes in Accounting Principles

As discussed in Note 1 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company changed the manner in which it accounts for leases as of January 1, 2019 and the manner in which it accounts for revenue from contracts with customers as of January 1, 2018.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in Management's Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company's consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

F-1

Table of Contents

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Income taxes - Real estate investment trust asset tests

As described in Notes 1 and 14 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company recorded income tax expense of $146.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. The Company has been operating as a real estate investment trust for federal income tax purposes (“REIT”) effective January 1, 2015. As a result, the Company may deduct the dividends made to its stockholders from taxable income generated by the Company and its qualified REIT subsidiaries ("QRSs"). The Company’s qualification and taxation as a REIT depends on its satisfaction of certain asset, income, organizational, distribution, stockholder ownership and other requirements on a continuing basis. The Company’s ability to satisfy quarterly asset tests depends upon its analysis and the fair market values of its REIT and non-REIT assets. For purposes of the quarterly REIT asset tests, management estimates the fair market value of assets within its QRSs and taxable REIT subsidiaries (“TRSs”) using a discounted cash flow approach, by calculating the present value of forecasted future cash flows. Management applies discount rates based on industry benchmarks relative to the market and forecasting risks. Other significant assumptions used by management to estimate the fair market value of assets in QRSs and TRSs include projected revenue growth, projected operating margins, and projected capital expenditures. Management revisits significant assumptions periodically to reflect any changes due to business or economic environment.

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to income taxes - REIT asset tests is a critical audit matter are (i) the significant judgment by management in determining the fair market value of REIT and non-REIT assets, which in turn led to a high degree of subjectivity in performing procedures relating to the REIT asset test, (ii) the significant audit effort and judgment in evaluating audit evidence related to the significant assumptions used in the REIT asset test, related to the discount rates, projected revenue growth, projected operating margins, and projected capital expenditures, and (iii) the audit effort involved the use of professionals with specialized skill and knowledge.

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included testing the effectiveness of controls relating to the REIT asset test, including controls over the determination of the fair market value of REIT and non-REIT assets. These procedures also included, among others, testing management’s process for estimating the fair market value of the REIT and non-REIT assets; evaluating the appropriateness of the discounted cash flow

F-2

Table of Contents

approach; testing the completeness and accuracy of underlying data used in the approach; and evaluating the significant assumptions used by management related to the discount rates, projected revenue growth, projected operating margins, and projected capital expenditures. Evaluating management’s assumptions related to projected revenue growth, projected operating margins, and projected capital expenditures involved considering the current and past performance of the Company, economic and industry trends, as well as whether these assumptions were consistent with evidence obtained in other areas of the audit. Professionals with specialized skill and knowledge were used to assist in the evaluation of the Company’s discounted cash flow approach and the discount rates.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

San Jose, California

February 19, 2021

We have served as the Company's auditor since 2000.

F-3

Table of Contents

EQUINIX, INC.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(in thousands, except share and per share data)

December 31,

Assets

Current assets:

Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity

Current liabilities:

Current portion of operating lease liabilities 154,207 145,606

Current portion of finance lease liabilities 137,683 75,239

Current portion of mortgage and loans payable 82,289 77,603

Commitments and contingencies (Note 15)

Equinix stockholders' equity:

Non-controlling interests 130 (224)

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

F-4

Table of Contents

EQUINIX, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Operations

(in thousands, except per share data)

Years Ended December 31,

Costs and operating expenses:

Net (income) loss attributable to non-controlling interests (297) 205 —

Earnings per share ("EPS") attributable to Equinix:

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

F-5

Table of Contents

EQUINIX, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss)

(in thousands)

Years Ended December 31,

Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax:

Net (income) loss attributable to non-controlling interests (297) 205 —

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

F-6

Table of Contents

EQUINIX, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity and Other Comprehensive Income (Loss)

For the Three Years Ended December 31, 2020

(in thousands, except share data)

Common stock Treasury stock AdditionalPaid-in Capital AccumulatedDividends

Shares Amount Shares Amount

Noncontrolling interests — — — — 725 — — — 725 — 725

F-7

Table of Contents

EQUINIX, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity and Other Comprehensive Income (Loss) - Continued

For the Three Years Ended December 31, 2020

(in thousands, except share data)

Common stock Treasury stock AdditionalPaid-in Capital AccumulatedDividends

Shares Amount Shares Amount

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

F-8

Table of Contents

EQUINIX, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

(in thousands)

Years Ended December 31,

Cash flows from operating activities:

Changes in operating assets and liabilities: