HALO通过考虑硬件时序特性,实现低延迟权重量化,大幅提高大模型推理效率。
HALO: Hardware-aware quantization with low critical-path-delay weights for LLM acceleration
- 根据硬件时序特性选择低延迟权重,支持更高运行频率
- 在TPU/GPU上实现270%性能提升和51%能耗降低
- 仅需少量DVFS调整,适合实际部署
量化对高效部署大语言模型至关重要。然而传统方法忽视硬件特性,仅受限于位宽,未考虑乘加单元的时序行为与功耗特征,导致无法充分利用时序余量与节能机会,限制了现代加速器上的部署效率。为此,我们提出HALO,一种面向硬件感知的后训练量化框架。不同于传统方法,HALO将关键路径时序与功耗等硬件特性显式融入量化过程。通过选择低关键路径延迟的权重,可实现更高工作频率与动态调频,且不破坏数据流架构。显著的是,仅需少量动态电压频率调节(DVFS)即可达成优化,兼顾简便性与实用性。此外,通过降低乘加单元内切换活动,有效减少能耗。在张量处理单元(TPUs)与图形处理器(GPUs)上的评估表明,相较基线量化方法,HALO平均实现270%的性能提升与51%的能耗节省,同时对精度影响极小。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Quantization is critical for efficiently deploying large language models (LLMs). Yet conventional methods remain hardware-agnostic, limited to bit-width constraints, and do not account for intrinsic circuit characteristics such as the timing behaviors and energy profiles of Multiply-Accumulate (MAC) units. This disconnect from circuit-level behavior limits the ability to exploit available timing margins and energy-saving opportunities, reducing the overall efficiency of deployment on modern accelerators. To address these limitations, we propose HALO, a versatile framework for Hardware-Aware Post-Training Quantization (PTQ). Unlike traditional methods, HALO explicitly incorporates detailed hardware characteristics, including critical-path timing and power consumption, into its quantization approach. HALO strategically selects weights with low critical-path-delays enabling higher operational frequencies and dynamic frequency scaling without disrupting the architecture's dataflow. Remarkably, HALO achieves these improvements with only a few dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) adjustments, ensuring simplicity and practicality in deployment. Additionally, by reducing switching activity within the MAC units, HALO effectively lowers energy consumption. Evaluations on accelerators such as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) demonstrate that HALO significantly enhances inference efficiency, achieving average performance improvements of 270% and energy savings of 51% over baseline quantization methods, all with minimal impact on accuracy.
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