Glossary

Canadian tech terms, explained.

Clear definitions of the technical, financial, and policy terms used in Canadian tech.

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Glossary results
Finance1 Aliases

ARR

Annual recurring revenue from subscription-style contracts.

Definition
ARR stands for annual recurring revenue. It is a common metric for software and services businesses that sell repeatable contracts and want to show the expected revenue run-rate over a year.
Why it matters
ARR is a shorthand for scale and retention, but it only matters if the underlying revenue is durable and collectible.
Aliases
annual recurring revenue
Related topics
SaaSEnterprise revenueGrowth quality
Hardware2 Aliases

ASIC

A chip designed for one narrow task instead of general-purpose computing.

Definition
ASIC stands for application-specific integrated circuit. It is built to do one job extremely well, which usually means better performance, lower power use, and tighter cost control than a general-purpose chip.
Why it matters
ASICs matter when a company needs predictable throughput and economics at scale, especially in AI infrastructure, telecom, and industrial systems.
Aliases
application-specific integrated circuitcustom chip
Related topics
AI infrastructureSemiconductor strategyCompute efficiency