arXiv:2604.18556cs.CLcs.LG2026-04被引 4

用改进的标量量化让大模型在2-3比特下保持高精度,兼容现有推理引擎。

GSQ: Highly-Accurate Low-Precision Scalar Quantization for LLMs via Gumbel-Softmax Sampling

  • 基于Gumbel-Softmax优化标量分组量化,联合学习每维网格与分组尺度。
  • 在Llama-3.1-8B/70B上实现2-3比特下接近向量量化前沿的准确率。
  • 可部署于现有GGUF格式,且适用于万亿参数MoE模型,易落地。

量化已成为高效部署大语言模型的标准手段,尤其在本地推理中,模型通常以每参数2-3比特运行。当前技术分为两类:如GPTQ、AWQ等简单标量量化方法,虽广泛应用但3-4比特后精度停滞;以及如QTIP、GPTVQ、AQLM等“第二代”向量或格栅量化方法,虽精度更高但实现复杂、难以扩展。本文探究该差距是否本质存在,答案是肯定的——通过提出GSQ(Gumbel-Softmax量化),一种后训练标量量化方法,联合学习每坐标网格分配与每组尺度,利用Gumbel-Softmax对离散网格进行松弛,其基数匹配目标比特位数(如3比特对应8个级别),使优化可行。实验表明,在标准Llama-3.1-8B/70B-Instruct模型上,GSQ在2-3比特下几乎弥合了标量量化与QTIP前沿的差距,采用对称标量网格与分组量化,兼容现有标量推理内核。进一步证明,该离散分配优化可应用于实际的GGUF K-Quant检查点:从公开的GGUF模型出发,经GSQ优化后提升精度,并投影回原格式。最后,GSQ成功扩展至万亿级MoE模型如Kimi-K2.5,而传统向量量化在此类模型上难以应用。代码已开源:https://github.com/IST-DASLab/GSQ。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Quantization has become a standard tool for efficient LLM deployment, especially for local inference, where models are now routinely served at 2-3 bits per parameter. The state of the art is currently split into simple scalar quantization techniques, such as GPTQ or AWQ, which are widely deployed but plateau in accuracy at 3-4 bits per parameter (bpp), and "second-generation" vector- or trellis-quantized methods, such as QTIP, GPTVQ and AQLM, which push the accuracy frontier but are notoriously hard to implement and to scale. In this paper, we ask whether this gap is fundamental, or whether a carefully optimized $\textit{scalar}$ quantizer can recover most of it. We answer in the affirmative, by introducing GSQ (Gumbel-Softmax Quantization), a post-training scalar quantization method which jointly learns the per-coordinate grid assignments and the per-group scales using a Gumbel-Softmax relaxation of the discrete grid. GSQ matches the cardinality of the relaxation to the small number of levels available in the target bit-width regime (e.g., 3-8 levels for ternary and 3 bpp, respectively), making optimization tractable. Practically, on the standard Llama-3.1-8B/70B-Instruct models, GSQ closes most of the gap between scalar quantization and the QTIP frontier at 2 and 3 bits, while using a symmetric scalar grid with group-wise quantization, and thus remains compatible with existing scalar inference kernels. We further show that the same discrete-assignment optimization can be applied to practical GGUF K-Quant checkpoints: starting from publicly released GGUF models, GSQ improves accuracy while projecting the result back into the same deployment format. Finally, GSQ scales to trillion-scale Mixture-of-Experts models such as Kimi-K2.5, where vector-quantized methods are difficult to apply. The source code is publicly available at https://github.com/IST-DASLab/GSQ.

量化大模型标量量化低比特

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