The alleged gunman, described by a co-worker as a "spaceshot," was found sitting in the lobby of the building and had to be wrestled into submission by Wakefield police, officials said.
The suspect, identified as Michael McDermott, 42, was armed with an AK-47 assault rifle, a semiautomatic handgun and a shotgun, said Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney John McEvoy.
The shootings occurred about 11:00 a.m. inside Edgewater Technology in the Harvard Mills office complex in the community just north of Boston.
McEvoy said McDermott would be charged with seven counts of murder. He was to be arraigned later Tuesday or early Wednesday in Malden District Court.
McEvoy declined to discuss any possible motive for the killings other than that they were "workplace related." He said McDermott had been working at the company since March.
District Attorney Martha Coakley Tuesday evening told a news conference that investigators were looking into reports the Internal Revenue Service had sought to garnish his wages for unpaid back taxes.
There were also unconfirmed reports the company was planning some layoffs after the first of the year.
McEvoy said all seven victims were shot, there were no other victims, and there was only one shooter.
There were up to 70 people inside the three-story building at the time of the shootings, McEvoy said.
Reports indicated the victims were shot at close range, but McEvoy declined to say if they were targeted or random victims.
Witnesses reported what sounded like automatic gunfire and said police responding to numerous 911 calls told other building occupants to evacuate as SWAT teams searched the building. McEvoy said it was determined later there was only one shooter.
Anxious relatives of those who work in the building rushed to the scene, but police cordoned off the area. Some met with trauma counselors at a nearby church.
Edgewater Technology, an Internet consulting software company on the first floor of the old factory building converted into office space, reportedly employs some 100 people, about 30 to 40 in Wakefield.
The Wakefield-based company has offices elsewhere in the country.
WBZ reported the company's stock value now was way down from what it was last year, and that it has been hit with a number of lawsuits in recent weeks because of an inability to fulfill promises.
Other major workplace killings before Tuesday's shootings at a Wakefield, Mass., technology company:
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