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DeepSeek-V3: Achieving Efficient LLM Scaling with 2,048 GPUs (arxiv.org)
7 points by qtwhat on May 15, 2025 | hide | past | pdf | 1 comment on HN

In plain words: DeepSeek-V3 was designed alongside its chips: it stores less per request, spreads work across small specialist networks, trains in low-precision numbers, and shapes the cluster network to cut traffic. On 2,048 GPUs this kept training and answering cheap, instead of just buying bigger hardware.

Abstract · Insights into DeepSeek-V3: Scaling Challenges and Reflections on Hardware for AI Architectures

The rapid scaling of large language models (LLMs) has unveiled critical limitations in current hardware architectures, including constraints in memory capacity, computational efficiency, and interconnection bandwidth. DeepSeek-V3, trained on 2,048 NVIDIA H800 GPUs, demonstrates how hardware-aware model co-design can effectively address these challenges, enabling cost-efficient training and inference at scale. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of the DeepSeek-V3/R1 model architecture and its AI infrastructure, highlighting key innovations such as Multi-head Latent Attention (MLA) for enhanced memory efficiency, Mixture of Experts (MoE) architectures for optimized computation-communication trade-offs, FP8 mixed-precision training to unlock the full potential of hardware capabilities, and a Multi-Plane Network Topology to minimize cluster-level network overhead. Building on the hardware bottlenecks encountered during DeepSeek-V3's development, we engage in a broader discussion with academic and industry peers on potential future hardware directions, including precise low-precision computation units, scale-up and scale-out convergence, and innovations in low-latency communication fabrics. These insights underscore the critical role of hardware and model co-design in meeting the escalating demands of AI workloads, offering a practical blueprint for innovation in next-generation AI systems.

Chenggang Zhao, Chengqi Deng, Chong Ruan, Damai Dai, Huazuo Gao, Jiashi Li, Liyue Zhang, Panpan Huang, Shangyan Zhou, Shirong Ma, Wenfeng Liang, Ying He, et al.
arXiv:2505.09343 · cs.DC, cs.AI, cs.AR · submitted May 14, 2025 · updated Dec 23, 2025
abstract · pdf · html · This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version appeared as part of the Industry Track in Proceedings of the 52nd Annual International Symposium on Computer Architecture (ISCA '25)

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DeepSeek-V3 demonstrates that thoughtful hardware-software co-design can overcome the scaling challenges of large language models. By integrating innovations like Multi-head Latent Attention (MLA), Mixture of Experts (MoE) architectures, FP8 mixed-precision training, and a Multi-Plane Network Topology, DeepSeek-V3 achieves cost-effective training and inference at scale. This paper delves into these advancements and discusses future directions for AI hardware and architecture co-design.

Read the full paper here: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.09343