Although interest rates are rising, it doesn't mean savvy investors cannot earn positive returns on real estate investment trusts (REITs). Historically, when the risk-free rate rose dramatically in six time periods, REITs earned positive returns during four of those periods, and out of half of those periods, they beat the S&P 500.

With interest rates on the rise and the technology sector down nearly 34% year-to-date, tech companies may look to data center REITs for the funding of new properties.

These 2 data center-focused real estate investment trusts have high yields and plenty of customers to drive future growth.

Iron Mountain Inc (NYSE:IRM) is offering a dividend yield of 5.37% or $2.47 per share annually, utilizing quarterly payments, with a stellar track record of increasing its dividends for nine consecutive years. Iron Mountain is a record management services provider primarily catering to enterprise clients in developed markets.

As of September 30, 2022, Iron Mountain has 1,380 facilities and served 225,000 customers in 59 countries.

Also Read: 2 High Yielding Cannabis REITs To Benefit From State Legalization In November

Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX) is offering a dividend yield of 2.09% or $12.40 per share annually, using quarterly payments, with a notable track record of increasing its dividends over the past seven years. Equinix is a retail provider of data centers, enabling hundreds of enterprise tenants to house their servers and networking equipment in a colocated environment.

In the second quarter, Equinix saw quarterly revenues up 10% on both an as-reported and constant currency basis, giving the firm the distinction of having the longest streak of consecutive quarterly revenue growth in the S&P 500, accounting for 78 consecutive quarters.

Equinix operates 240 data centers in 66 markets worldwide and owns just less than half of them, as of 2021.