WASHINGTON, March 14, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (NYSE:DFT) today announced that Virginia has enacted legislation to extend to June 30, 2035 the expiration date of the sales and use tax exemption for the purchase or lease of computer equipment and software by data centers and their customers. The purpose of the sales tax exemption is to encourage data center investment and make Virginia more competitive in creating and retaining high-tech jobs. Since January 1, 2009, DFT and its participating Ashburn campus customers have invested over $1.5 billion at the DFT Ashburn campus.
The exemption became effective in July 2012 and originally was scheduled to expire on June 30, 2020. The 15-year extension of the expiration date will help to ensure that Virginia remains a location of choice for customers to establish an East Coast data center presence.
DFT's entire Ashburn Corporate Center benefits from the sales tax exemption. DFT and its customers have met the investment requirement by tenfold and, by 2014, met the requirement to create at least fifty qualifying jobs, with additional jobs created as DFT expands its Ashburn data center campus with the development of its ACC7 facility.
Christopher P. Eldredge, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, "We are very pleased that Virginia has extended the sales tax exemption; this is a significant sales tax relief that DFT and its customers will receive. The Commonwealth of Virginia, our customers and DFT all benefit from this program. The exemption helps lower the total cost to our customers and plays a significant role in positioning Virginia as a highly attractive location for current and prospective data center customers."
About DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc.
DuPont Fabros Technology, Inc. (NYSE:DFT) is a leading owner, developer, operator and manager of enterprise-class, carrier-neutral, large multi-tenant wholesale data centers. The Company’s facilities are designed to offer highly specialized, efficient and safe computing environments in a low-cost operating model. The Company’s customers outsource their mission-critical applications and include national and international enterprises across numerous industries, such as technology, Internet content providers, media, communications, cloud-based, healthcare and financial services. The Company’s 12 data centers are located in four major U.S. markets, which total 3 million gross square feet and 266 megawatts of available critical load to power the servers and computing equipment of its customers. DuPont Fabros Technology is a real estate investment trust (REIT) headquartered in Washington, D.C. For more information, please visit www.dft.com.