Debt Facilities - Fair Value of Debt Instruments (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Thousands	Jun. 30, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Mortgage and loans payable	$ 1,304,463	$ 1,378,429
Senior notes	$ 11,580,351	$ 9,339,497
Senior Notes \| 5.000% Infomart Senior Notes
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Interest rate (percent)	5.00%

Contractual interest rate for funds borrowed, under the debt agreement.

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.22(a)(1))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120391452&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentInterestRateStatedPercentage
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Fair value portion of contractual obligation to pay money on demand or on fixed or determinable dates.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_LoansPayableFairValueDisclosure
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Fair value portion of notes payable.

+ References

Reference 1: http://fasb.org/us-gaap/role/ref/legacyRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 210
-SubTopic 10
-Section S99
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (SX 210.5-02.19,20,22)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=120391452&loc=d3e13212-122682

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_NotesPayableFairValueDisclosure
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_LongtermDebtTypeAxis=us-gaap_SeniorNotesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_DebtInstrumentAxis=eqix_FivePointZeroPercentInfomartSeniorNotesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: