Acquisitions - Additional Information (Detail) £ / shares in Units, $ in Thousands, € in Millions, £ in Millions, $ in Millions														3 Months Ended								5 Months Ended	8 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Apr. 18, 2018 AUD ($)	Apr. 18, 2018 USD ($) data_center_site metro_area	Apr. 02, 2018 USD ($)	Oct. 09, 2017 EUR (€)	Oct. 09, 2017 USD ($) metro_area data_center	Oct. 06, 2017 USD ($)	May 01, 2017 USD ($) data_center_building	Feb. 03, 2017 GBP (£)	Feb. 03, 2017 USD ($)	Aug. 01, 2016 EUR (€)	Aug. 01, 2016 USD ($)	Jan. 15, 2016 GBP (£) £ / shares	Jan. 15, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) data_center_site	Sep. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2018 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2018 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Sep. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Jun. 30, 2017 USD ($)	Mar. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2018 USD ($) data_center_site	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 31, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 06, 2016 USD ($)
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Data centers sites | data_center_site														200										200
Repayment of capital lease and other financing obligations																								$ 103,774	$ 93,470		$ 114,385
Loss on debt extinguishment																								(51,377)	(65,772)		(12,276)
Revenues														$ 1,310,083	$ 1,283,751	$ 1,261,943	$ 1,215,877	$ 1,200,221	$ 1,152,261	$ 1,066,421	$ 949,525			5,071,654	4,368,428		3,611,989
Net income														110,022	$ 124,825	$ 67,618	$ 62,894	65,215	$ 79,900	$ 45,805	$ 42,062			365,359	232,982		126,800
Goodwill														$ 4,836,388				$ 4,411,762				$ 2,986,064	$ 4,411,762	4,836,388	4,411,762	$ 2,986,064	2,986,064
Metronode
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration for acquisition	$ 1,034	$ 804,600
Data centers sites | data_center_site		10
Number data centers, metro areas | metro_area		6
Provisional information, adjustment property, plant and equipment																								(10,100)
Provisional information, adjustment other assets																								(10,000)
Provisional information, adjustment other liabilities																								(9,700)
Business Combination, Provisional Information, Initial Accounting Incomplete, Adjustment, Deferred Tax Assets																								(4,100)
Provisional information, adjustment, deferred tax liabilities																								35,400
Provisional information, adjustment, goodwill																								45,300
Provisional information, adjustment, intangible assets																								4,800
Goodwill		$ 413,871
Metronode | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired intangible assets, estimated useful lives (years)	20 years	20 years
Metronode | Discount rate | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Measurement input		0.073
Infomart Dallas
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration for acquisition			$ 45,800
Consideration transferred			804,000
Debt instrument, fair value			$ 758,200
Interest rate (percent)			5.00%
Repayment of capital lease and other financing obligations			$ 170,300
Asset retirement obligation, liabilities settled			1,900
Loss on debt extinguishment			(19,500)
Provisional information, adjustment, goodwill																								(6,200)
Provisional information, adjustment, intangible assets																								4,600
Goodwill			$ 197,378
Infomart Dallas | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired intangible assets, estimated useful lives (years)			20 years
Infomart Dallas | Trade names
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired intangible assets, estimated useful lives (years)			20 years
Infomart Dallas | Minimum | In-place leases
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired intangible assets, estimated useful lives (years)			3 years 7 months 6 days
Infomart Dallas | Maximum | In-place leases
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired intangible assets, estimated useful lives (years)			7 years 6 months
Infomart Dallas | Discount rate | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Measurement input			0.082
Infomart Dallas | Royalty rate | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Measurement input			0.015
Metronode and Infomart Dallas
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition costs																								31,100
Revenues																								78,700
Verizon
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration for acquisition							$ 3,600,000
Provisional information, adjustment, goodwill																								7,700
Provisional information, adjustment, intangible assets																								(9,000)
Acquisition costs																									28,500		7,600
Revenues																							359,100
Data center buildings | data_center_building							29
Net income																							$ 87,800
Goodwill							$ 1,095,262
Verizon | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired intangible assets, estimated useful lives (years)							15 years
Verizon | Bridge loan
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Short-term debt																												$ 2,000,000
Payments of Financing Costs																											10,000
Commitment fees																									7,800		2,200
Verizon | Discount rate | Minimum | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Measurement input							0.077
Verizon | Discount rate | Maximum | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Measurement input							0.122
Itconic, Zenium and IO
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquisition costs																								8,100
Revenues																									$ 22,400
Itconic
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration for acquisition				€ 220.5	$ 259,100
Data centers sites | data_center					5
Number data centers, metro areas | metro_area					4
Provisional information, adjustment property, plant and equipment																								(3,600)
Provisional information, adjustment, goodwill																								2,600
Goodwill					$ 127,711
Itconic | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired intangible assets, estimated useful lives (years)				15 years	15 years
Itconic | Discount rate | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Measurement input					0.160
Zenium data center
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration for acquisition						$ 92,000
Provisional information, adjustment property, plant and equipment																								5,200
Provisional information, adjustment other assets																								$ (5,200)
Goodwill						$ 21,834
Zenium data center | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired intangible assets, estimated useful lives (years)						15 years
IO UK's data center
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration for acquisition								£ 29.1	$ 36,300
Goodwill									$ 15,804
IO UK's data center | Customer relationships
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Acquired intangible assets, estimated useful lives (years)								10 years	10 years
Digital Realty
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Cash consideration for acquisition										€ 193.8	$ 216,400
Repayment of capital lease and other financing obligations										47.8	53,400
Loss on debt extinguishment										€ (8.8)	$ (9,900)
Acquisition costs																											12,000
Revenues																						$ 4,100
Telecity Group plc
Business Acquisition [Line Items]
Consideration transferred												£ 2,600.0	$ 3,700,000
Acquisition costs																											$ 42,500
Revenues																										400,000
Net income																										$ (47,100)
Ratio of shares acquired												0.0336	0.0336
Equity interests issued and issuable													$ 1,300
Payments to acquire businesses, per share acquired | £ / shares												£ 5.725